Open Thread – MLK & Inaugural Day
It’s a double celebration today, as we honor America’s greatest civil rights leader, and observe the swearing in of President Barack Obama for a second term.
If you’d like to enjoy some great views of the gathering crowd in Washington DC, you can check out the webcam atop the Smithsonian, and another of the Washington Monument.
Here is the schedule of events from NPR:
Though he and the vice president have already taken their oaths of office, President Obama is due this noon to stand outside the Capitol for his ceremonial swearing in and then to deliver his second inaugural address.
We’ll be live blogging this morning, if you want to follow along. The highlights should include:
— Shortly after 11 a.m. ET. The president, vice president and their families take their seats on the podium.
— 11:35 a.m. ET. Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil rights activist and widow of slain Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers, delivers the invocation.
— 11:45 a.m. ET. Vice President Biden repeats his oath of office. Supreme court Justice Sonia Sotomayor officiates.
— 11:50 a.m. ET. Singer James Taylor performs.
— 11:55 a.m. ET. President Obama repeats his oath of office. Chief Justice John Roberts officiates.
— Noon ET. The president delivers his inaugural address.
— 12:21 p.m. ET. Singer Kelly Clarkson performs.
— 12:26 p.m. ET. Richard Blanco reads his inaugural poem. At 44, he is the youngest poet to have this honor. He is also the first Latino to do so.
— 12:30 p.m. ET. The benediction by Dr. Luis León, pastor of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.
— 12:34 p.m. ET. Singer Beyoncé peforms the National Anthem.
Following the ceremony, the Obamas and Bidens join members of Congress for lunch in the Capitol.
— 2:32 p.m. ET. The president reviews troops outside the Capitol.
— 2:36 p.m. ET. The inaugural parade begins.
— 5:30 p.m. ET. The parade concludes.
— 6 p.m. ET. Inaugural balls begin.
NPR’s live coverage gets started at 10 a.m. ET. It will be broadcast on many NPR member stations and streamed on NPR.org.
Welcome to Chapter 2.
According to Nasa scientists and Hubble Telescope-the farther away objects are,the faster they are travelling away. I guess if reality is the base line,this would adequately explain rwnj. Disclaimer-rwnj aren’t expanding their universe,they are escaping reality pretty pronto.
All the yapping about liberty,freedom, and American exceptionalism by the far right in recent years has rested on ignoring great wide swaths of American experience to the contrary to prop itself up. The continual rejection of groups of Americans , the marginalization of so many, the attempt to exclude so many, mark the far right’s shaky stance on personal and societal responsibility.
Mr Obama struck the right chord with me here:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
“Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. ”
Human institutions have a habit of taking on lives of their own. Constant attendance betwixt and between what we say we are doing and what it is all shaking out to be for real people is necessary to carry out, accomplish, make real our goals.
Our goals, as briefly outlined by Mr Obama in this address, include breathing life back into real, workable notions of community in relation to the individual.
I’m heartened , I have some hope we have turned a corner here.
Lots of work ahead…
You are so right it is scary.
I thought that Inauguration Day wss just great. Really cold and windy here with off-and-on snow showers from Lake Michigan but beautiful none the less. We watched the ceremony on the big screen at the State Theatre in Traverse City and we were thrilled to hear that the special MLK program set for late afternoon was a “sell-out” of free tickets with only stand-by tickets still available. This, for an event of video, music and readings by local students from MLK’s speeches and writings with the special appearance of a much-celebrated Detroit gospel choir. In bitter cold temperatures too. Not too bad for a nothwest Lower Michigan community of about 20,000.
In addition, it pleases me no end to know that the GOP is whining because President Obama did not “reach out” to them during his speech. He tried to “reach out” to the GOP every day of his first term and they to a person turned their backs on him. The important people were the people the President reached out to in his speech, “we, the people.” Maybe if the members of the GOP started to behave like adults they would realize that the people who count are “we, the people,” not their chosen puppet masters: Grover Norquist, the Koch Brothers, the NRA and ALEC.
One man can only do so much. We are the ones on whom the responsibility falls to shape the future in our favor. If we are willing he can help us. If we are apathetic, nothing can save us.
Now is the time to start to work hard to preserve and extend the benefits of sane policies.
Gay equality.
Something POTUS mentioned in his speech.
Such a simple lovely thing.
I hope no other POTUS has to mention it again.
Cause it is such a no brainer.
The debt that we leave our young, it won’t matter if the weather, our atmosphere continues to go crazy.
I just feel like I could sleep well tonight.
It was a good day.
Lessee. The Rethuglicans spent four years with their number one goal of making President Obama a one-term president.
Today President Obama was sworn in for his second term.
Had he asked me to write his Second Inaugural Address, this is the speech he would have given today:
“Neener, neener, neener.”
I couldn’t get this website to load, so I went elsewhere. Loved it all, but especially the alignment of Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall, which is some rockin’ alliteration! Four more years!!
marvelous day.
Ditto!
Absolutely fantastic!