The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : A Sour Note

Text Size

Whatever my reservations are about President Obama, it was quite an amazing site to be standing at the Capitol overlooking all of the jubilant faces on the Mall. It was a reminder of the resilience of the American system, and the ability for people to change their government if they don't like its leadership. Also, it was hard not to appreciate the obvious enormity of the moment given the historical significance of this being the first African American president.
But for me, everything was marred by the fact that when President Bush was announced, I could hear loud booing as well as chants of "Na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye!" This was not only classless, but completely at odds with President Obama's avowed goal of bringing civility to Washington.

View all comments (12) | Leave a comment

ruth| 1.20.09 @ 4:01PM

Even more disgusting than the crowd's booing was listening to Chris Matthews on MSNBC, repeatedly saying, "Bad form, bad form." Thanks, Chris, you and the other morons on your station would know something about that. UGH!!

Rubeczech| 1.20.09 @ 5:04PM

What are you doing watching Chris Matthews anyway? lol!

ruth| 1.20.09 @ 5:33PM

It was linked from Drudge. Give me a break.

Rick Venema| 1.20.09 @ 5:43PM

Ya know, I didn't vote for Obama, but his opponent wasn't my first choice either. But now the campaign is over and it's time for someone - please God - to govern and lead. Pretty speeches won't do it, Congress arguing over the best way to spend my money won't do it, and holding our collective breath 'til we're all blue in the face won't do it. Every Congress and every President since FDR brought us to where we are today. I pray that the new President is successful and I wish him and his family health, happiness and courage. And I ask that God guide our elected leaders to make the right decisions to restore our national strength, both economic and military.

Kat| 1.20.09 @ 6:34PM

Good one, Rick. A typical classy repub.

Real American| 1.20.09 @ 6:36PM

Don't hold your breath, Rick. Obama has already indicated that he intends to make horrible decisions that will ruin this country's economy and culture for generations.

Alan Brooks| 1.20.09 @ 6:52PM

then His Majesty Ahnold Schwarzenegger takes over in 2017.

Rick Venema| 1.20.09 @ 10:16PM

Real American - I know, I know, I know, believe me I know. But I gotta hope that our sense of dread will not come to fruition. If BO is half as classy as he'd like us all to believe, he won't pander to the extreme left but stand as "his own man" as the Goricle proclaimed. As Mr. Klein observed, I want to try to remain focused on the "resilience of the American system." As for "the ability for people to change their government if they don't like its leadership," I'm really not sure how we do that when the curruption is so deep throughout the system, regardless of party identity. Party identity means nothing now. It's money - yours and mine and everyone who earns a living. It's not even ours anymore, not if politicians-for-life have first dibs on it. They manage our economy, they ruined it, and they want more of our money to fix it. Two words - term limits. As the old bumper sticker said, "I love my country, but I fear my government." I thought that cool and clever as a teenager; it was never more true than now, and my teen years are long ago and far away.

Kat - thank you for you kind remark.

Blessings, all.

Crusader| 1.20.09 @ 10:39PM

Why would anyone who calls themselves a conservative, patriot, or a believer in the Constitution of the USA wish Obama anything but failure? Would you wish the guy breaking into your house to rob you good luck, success, happiness, and health?

I swear there is no party for true strict constitutionalist patriots in this country. The dems are rabid commies and the republicans, when they're not being dem-lite, are meekly bending over, taking it, and telling us how good it feels. Or better yet, its not as bad as they thought it would be.

Frigging wimps.

You know you wonder why Soros and moveon.org and all those rabid commies can stir up such grass-roots venom? Because if I was a kookie nut job lib I would know for certain that Pelosi, Reid, Obama et cetera aren't going to betray me and the kookie lib base when they get into power. Can repubs say that? No. Dem leadership consistently appeals to the most morally bankrupt left-base kooks. Unfortunately repubs do the same thing, thinking it will win them votes.

Kat| 1.20.09 @ 11:20PM

The liberals don't sell each other out.

Rick Venema| 1.21.09 @ 6:28AM

Crusader - to acknowledge the fact that BO is the president is painful but not a capitulation, just a statement of fact. We will all continue to sound the alarm over DEM abuses, but I don't recall too many favors from the REPUB side either. I'm just tired of getting screwed by the entire freakin' elected aristocracy in this country. I agree with your analogy (metaphor?) of the guy robbing my house. We all can and should continue to rage against the empire and prepare for the worst ... but it just seems so self-defeating to have to face every day that way. Yes, the struggle continues. The worst part of all this is, somebody elected these people. Not me or thee perhaps, but there they are and here we are. Another day, more of the same.