The Inaugural Speech

[Jeannieb43]

I have to admit that I had tears in my eyes when the Rev Avery, I believe was his name, prayed the benediction. I thought that that prayer was very moving.

pk

Agreed

[Neil D]

Yes. When Obama officially becomes president I will hold him to great things.

Wow! Why do you hold him to a higher standard than Bush? The way you'd seem to be thinking is that the economy will be fixed by next week, and all your unemployed church members are going to be working the following week, and the Middle East is gonna be fix forever by the week after next....Sheeesh!

I heard snippets from various radio stations, like Rush Limbaugh...he was saying that he didn't understand the poem that this woman read..."It makes no sense" he says...Well, what's new there? Art is always lost to those who will not ask....

I didn't get to listen to the address until NPR replayed it. It was good....He basically said, Ok, America...it's time to go to work. And all those times that we let slide, is past...It's time to make some decisions....

I wonder if we can say that the issue of race is now settled?

[Dr. Shane]

HEY SHANE

WOW pumpkin doughnuts I have never had any but I LIKE

pumpkin so I might like them

and most doughnut are shaped like O's

dgrimm60

They taste like pumpkin bread - not too bad.

[Bravus]

Awesome, so cute - I can't look at that picture without grinning broadly!

[Neil D]

Hey.....where's the beard?????

[Dr. Shane]

Not only are the "O" shaped like the O in O-bama, but they are also dark like Obama's skin. These are like the ultimate in Obama inauguration celebration food.

[Taylor]

Originally Posted By: Redwood

Yes. When Obama officially becomes president I will hold him to great things.

Wow! Why do you hold him to a higher standard than Bush? The way you'd seem to be thinking is that the economy will be fixed by next week, and all your unemployed church members are going to be working the following week, and the Middle East is gonna be fix forever by the week after next....Sheeesh!

I heard snippets from various radio stations, like Rush Limbaugh...he was saying that he didn't understand the poem that this woman read..."It makes no sense" he says...Well, what's new there? Art is always lost to those who will not ask....

I didn't get to listen to the address until NPR replayed it. It was good....He basically said, Ok, America...it's time to go to work. And all those times that we let slide, is past...It's time to make some decisions....

I wonder if we can say that the issue of race is now settled?

In my opinion, the poem wasn't impressive and I like poetry. The prayers were good with the last prayer being eloquently superb (regardless of what I've heard about that man's "personal life" he did a great job praying and if he used to be with MLK junior it was right to have him do the last prayer.). The music was great. Regardless of what anyone things about Barak personally, it is a proud moment for America that in our country, it is now possible and reality for an African American to become president of the USA.

Just my 2 cents.

[Taylor]

Ooh CoAspen you are bad. They all look like a great family! Shane looks like a dedicated loving Dad which is great. Your kids are adorable Shane!

[phkrause]

Yes Taylor I agree with your assessment of the so called poem. It kind of reminds me of the poems in the Psalms. Because of the translation of Hebrew to English. Her Poem had no ryenm (spelling) or reason. The only thing I can say is at lest she had the guts to get up there, because I would never be able to do that. So I give her credit for that.

pk

[Woody]

Originally Posted By: Redwood

Yes. When Obama officially becomes president I will hold him to great things.

Wow! Why do you hold him to a higher standard than Bush? The way you'd seem to be thinking is that the economy will be fixed by next week, and all your unemployed church members are going to be working the following week, and the Middle East is gonna be fix forever by the week after next....Sheeesh!

I heard snippets from various radio stations, like Rush Limbaugh...he was saying that he didn't understand the poem that this woman read..."It makes no sense" he says...Well, what's new there? Art is always lost to those who will not ask....

I didn't get to listen to the address until NPR replayed it. It was good....He basically said, Ok, America...it's time to go to work. And all those times that we let slide, is past...It's time to make some decisions....

I wonder if we can say that the issue of race is now settled?

What I recall from the prayer of Rev. Avery was a gloating that "yellow could finally be yellow and black could finally be black ... if only the whites would do the right thing"

Do you call that progress or unity? I call it racial hatred. I would reverse it and say that if the blacks did the right thing ... then whites could be white and blacks could be blacks. The point is that color should not matter. We need a colorblind society. And that is something the blacks are opposed to. They want affirmative action and special rights to gain special privileges against whites.

I pray that some day it will not matter what the color of ones skin is but I fear that that day has not come yet.

[Tom Wetmore]

The poem was free verse. It is perhaps to poetry as forms of modern art is to realism painting.

[Woody]

There seems to be a good SDA representation at the Inaugural procedings. Witney Phipps is singing at the National Prayer Service and Obama seems to be very intrigued. They have a split screen on Obama and Witney. Now ... Obama just gave him a standing ovation.

[Tom Wetmore]

Redwood, perhaps if you had listened more carefully, you might have had better recall, including the name. Here is what he actually prayed at the end of his benediction:

Quote:

...Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

For the full text - Rev. Lowery's prayer

[Woody]

That must have been the modified version. But I still don't like it. Telling whites to embrace what is right? What about all colors embracing what is right.

[Neil D]

That must have been the modified version. But I still don't like it. Telling whites to embrace what is right? What about all colors embracing what is right.

"modified version"?

I recall the version that Tom posted, and it was the verson that was quoted in NPR.....

"Modifed version"?

Are you a practicing member of the Ubber Conservative Republican Alshimers Society, Trash Obama sect?

Where is that kinder and nicer and hopefilled and love the joke Redwood we all came to love and adore?

[Woody]

Quote:

"modified version"?

I recall the version that Tom posted, and it was the verson that was quoted in NPR.....

What I suspect happened is that the text of what he was suppose to say is out there ... but just like the Oath ... it came out wrong under the pressure of the moment.

Just my guess. Granted ... it is a liberal one.

[Dr. Shane]

That prayer was odd. Whites embracing what is right after they just elected a black President. What does that mean? And yellows being mellow? Is that a reference to Bruce Lee movies or what?

[phkrause]

I have the filling that he was putting words together to make them rhyme. Not sure he was trying to start a new racial issue.

And Redwood also don't forget Pastor Barry Black who said grace before the meal is also a SDA.

pk

[Taylor]

Ya I agree, it was just rhyming. I didn't take any offence even though I am white. Whites have done a lot of wrong things...so has every other race....doesn't bother me..but yes we need to make sure "browns can stick around" that "blacks don't have to sit in the back" that "the orientals such as N. Korea etc need to mellow their stance" and all of us, including whites, need to do what is right.

[there buster]

Quote:

The poem was free verse.

Robert Frost said that writing free verse was like playing tennis with the net down.

I don't totally agree. James Weldon Johnson's The Creation is free verse, and it is wonderful.

But Tuesday's inaugural poem was not in league with Frost or Johnson. It was a lot like so-called 'classical music' and many forms of modern art. It's just academics and elites impressing each other.

The inaugural poem has no clothes, but like the emperor's courtiers, who pretended not to notice, finding the poem 'sophisticated' and 'multi-layered,' or whatever is supposed to be an indication of our refinement. Yawn.

Real art takes into account its audience. Both "The Messiah" and "The Magic Flute" were popular and made money. A real artist elevates the audience, rather than talks past it.

The people, like John Williams (not the best, but very good, and the best known), who write Movie themes are the true heirs of Handel and Mozart. They produce memorable art that resonates with their audience.