Quote du Jour: Hope Over Fear

The inaugural speech

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord." -- President Barack Obama

Important Presidential Update: Obama is Keeping his BlackBerry!

on John King's new CNN Sunday show, "State of the Union" today:

KING: Well, actually, one last question. And it's, in part, silly. But it's not always silly. You like these [holding up BlackBerry]. I was just with you before this, and you have a couple of them. And there are a lot of people who say, because this will end up in the presidential library, because you don't have privacy any more, your life's about to change.

Tuesday noon, you have to give this up.

OBAMA: Yes.

KING: You going to do it?

OBAMA: I think we're going to be able to beat this back.

KING: Beat this back?

OBAMA: I think we're going to be able to hang onto one of these. Now...

KING: Do you want mine?

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: My -- my working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an e-mail could end up being on CNN. So I make sure to -- to think before I press "send."

But what this has been -- what this does is -- and it's just one tool among a number of tools that I'm trying to use, to break out of the bubble, to make sure that people can still reach me, that if I'm doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an e-mail and say, "What are you doing?" You know? Or "you seem detached" or "you're not listening to what is going on here in the neighborhood."

I want to be able to have voices, other than the people who are immediately working for me, be able to reach out and -- and send me a message about what's happening in America.

Good for you, Mr. Soon-President. Bring us into the 21st century, in yet another sense.

More ex-presidential photo ops

Don't you feel nostalgic just looking at those guys? (Well, some of them, anyway...)

Well, I'm Not Worried Yet.

Liberals Voice Concerns About Obama

(Syntax aside) I agree with this guy (John Isaacs, the executive director for Council for Livable World):

“To me it’s not as important as who’s there, than what kind of policies they carry out.”

and this guy (Juan Cole, who "runs a prominent anti-war blog called Informed Comment"):

“... But overall, my estimation is that he has chosen competence over ideology, and I'm willing to cut him some slack."

Why I Love Salon

Get over it, Clinton haters by Joe Conason

... the president-elect in his wisdom has repudiated the Clinton-bashing mythology of the '90s. Perhaps that is what he meant when he promised to say goodbye to all the partisan poison of the past.

OK, in case there had ever been any question...

... I can now say for certain that I never want to be president.

No e-mail for 4-8 years? An anachronistic Luddite deprivation for which the most powerful position in the free world would offer little consolation ;)

Obama faces the loss of his beloved BlackBerry.

The Next Question: Secretary of State

I won't lie and say that I wouldn't love to see Hillary get it. On the other hand, Bill Richardson is incredibly qualified. I wouldn't cry to see John Kerry get it, either, and he is qualified as well, although I'd prefer to see it go to one of the other two.

Quote du Jour: Bob Schieffer on Obama's Victory Speech

I noticed this, too.

from Schieffer's closing comments today on "Face the Nation."

Finally today, seeing the television picture of that crowd in Grant Park that had come to celebrate Barack Obama's victory was a sight I will never forget.

But I was disappointed, at first, in Obama's speech. I was expecting another of those rousing, old-time, "Yes, we can" orations that had electrified crowds during the campaign.

He made a fine speech, I thought, but why didn't he ramp it up, as he had so many times before? Where was the punchline for this one?

Well, the next day, I read something in the paper that helped me understand that wasn't what he had in mind Tuesday night.

I read that his campaign had planned a big fireworks display, but Obama had said no. He understood that the rally that night would speak for itself. There was no need to gild the moment with fireworks, nor would a stem-winding speech that rubbed victory in his opponent's face have been appropriate.

Tuesday, in his mind, was the night to say thank you, not gloat. The faces in the crowd would tell the story.

That restraint, Obama's understanding of how it would all look, an ability so often lacking in today's politicians, may well but what brought him to victory.

Time and again, in a hard-fought campaign, there were lines Obama could have crossed but didn't.

He made no issue of McCain's age. He raised no questions about his health. He never went after Sarah Palin. He knew how it would have looked.

Communicating, cutting through, connecting with people is more than just the words we choose. It also means understanding when no words are necessary.

New look

Yeah, change is in the air. I thought the blog's facelift made it look a bit less somber.

I'm also wondering if I've become a bit of a misnomer. It's pretty obvious I'm a damn liberal (or progressive, if you prefer), and now that liberals/progressives are being defined as "socialists," who knows what defines a moderate? But, as Obama has often been described as having a conservative temperament despite his politics, I maintain that I have always had a moderate temperament, given to occasional extremes... but always in moderation.

As to the brighter mood, sure, the economy's still in crisis. None of that has changed overnight. But genuine hope shouldn't be underestimated. It's been a long time since this country has been acquainted with it, and we might be pleasantly surprised what we can accomplish if we take an experimental vacation from cynicism.

Change

Change.gov, that is.
That's right, people. You're not dreaming. 75 days and counting...

Poetry of the Moment: Langston Hughes

Quoted by a Howard University professor on the local NBC news this morning:
from "Let America Be America Again"

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!