That's PRESIDENT Obama To You!

"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."

Yes!

That's PRESIDENT Obama To You!

Bullshit. Obama screwed up the oath of office (and you thought Bush was dumb!) so it doesn't count, and he's not president. Since Bush's term has expired and Obama didn't take the Constitutionally prescribed oath, Cheney is now the rightful president of the United States.

"After eight long, miserable, horrible years of unmitigated failure at the hands of GW and his goons, this nation has a real PRESIDENT that was voted into office by the PEOPLE instead of sneaking in through a series of criminal behind-the-scenes machinations that resulted in the first peace-time coup that this nation has ever experienced." I do not doubt that president Obama can do a better job than GW at being president. Just give him a chance before you call him a REAL PRESIDENT, it has only been 3 hours.

Since Bush's term has expired and Obama didn't take the Constitutionally prescribed oath, Cheney is now the rightful president of the United States.

That's very funny. I presume it was intended that way.

Even if a mutual stammer between the incoming President and the Chief Justice invalidated the oath of office, Cheney would still be out of luck. Joseph Biden had already been sworn in as VP.

okay bob, you obviously don't know shit about this nation's constitution. obama is president as of noon today, even WITHOUT ANY oath of office. do your homework by actually READING the constitution before making baseless pronouncements or go back home and cry in your worthless hedge funds and leave us to enjoy hearing the voice of the people instead of the shouts of overpaid corporate shills. (incidentally, if you check the videos, you will find that obama actually became president -- according to constitutional law -- while john williams' lovely musical arrangement was being played by Yo Yo Ma & Co.)

kyle -- and a REAL president is a person who was VOTED in by the majority of the PEOPLE, so yes, even when i disagree with obama (and believe me, i WILL disagree), he is PRESIDENT instead of a corrupt weasel-faced pretender.

"let us enjoy hearing the voice of the people"

I think you mean "the voice of a minority of the people." I did not ask Obama to speak for me or act in my name.

Democracy is a bludgeon: this fact cannot be obscured by flowery speeches and false hope.

Today's events represent merely another deferment of real peace and justice, marvels to be witnessed only when the monstrous nature of every "statesman" is revealed.

john williams' lovely musical arrangement...

...was actually a lame ripoff of "Riverdance." Though not as lame as the "poetry" that followed.

And with the "articulate" (according to Biden) O tripping over his own tongue just taking the oath, for God's sake...yeah, this administration is off to an inspiring start.

as Sir Winston Churchill once said, democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

I wouldn't blame President Obama for messing up the oath, if I were taking the oath I would probably faint due to stage fright.

All the same, it was nice of CNN to rename "Air on Simple Things" as "Air and Simple Things".

john williams' lovely musical arrangement...

...was actually a lame ripoff of "Riverdance."
-Bob

Bob, the Christian hymn "Lord of the Dance" was written in the '60s. And there are variations of the tune that are much older. Try not to pronounce on subjects of which you know nothing.

It's originally a shaker hymn. Simple Gifts. Written in 1848.

You go, Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrlllllllllllll!

I am not as fluent in English as I am in Serbian, but it would be pretty much the same reaction as yours!

Cheers!

It's originally a shaker hymn.

So Williams ripped off a ripoff of a Shaker hymn. Is that better? Couldn't we have expected something more, like, original? You know, to comport with all the changehopey hopechanginess of the new administration?

...while john williams' lovely musical arrangement was being played by Yo Yo Ma & Co.

snorfle!--turns out they recorded it a week before, and their "playing" at the inauguration was fake. And O had to retake the correct oath the next day. So the whole inauguration was bogus, and cost north of $150M--good thing the country is so prosperous right now and can easily afford it.

Bob - I guess that you're aware that most classical composers have "ripped off" other people. That includes Beethoven, Rachmaninov, J.S. Bach (who even "ripped off" himself repeatedly), Schostacovich etc. etc. The point is not that Williams used a theme that someone else had written, but that he used it to create something beautiful.

I bet you don't know where the tune for Good King Wenseslas comes from, do you? :-)

...but that he used it to create something beautiful.

But he didn't. The original is better, and will be played long after Williams's hack is forgotten.

I bet you don't know where the tune for Good King Wenseslas comes from, do you?

Why should I? I'm not a musician. But if someone hacks it for (God forbid!) O's second inaugural, I'll recognize it and think...well, I guess I'll think "What did you expect?"

Bob - how do you know what the original sounds like? You thought it was from a contemporary Irish dance act.