If your eyes didn't moisten with Garth Brooks, Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Stevie Wonder, Cheryl Crowe, U2, all the rest and ------ Pete Seeger and his signature song "This land is  My Land, This land is your land..." ---- then you are emotionally dead.  

The high point was hearing celebrities say that it is up to US -- you and me -- to hold Obama responsible, and accountable.

It would probably be fair to say that it could be rated at a difficulty rating or a 9 or a 10 for the musicians and singers and here is why...

Singing just one song is hard - usually performers and the guys at the sound board use the first three songs at a concert to get it all together.  That is reason number one which is why so often at the Academy Awards we see performers not quite as great as they have been in other shows we've seen.  Pulling off a great "one hit wonder" is much tougher than most people understand.  

Then there is the cold.  It is hard to sing well in cold, dry weather hovering near freezing tempuratures.  Instruments don't always respond well to extreme cold or heat either...  

And finally, many of these artists are performing with other people that they don't perform with on a regular basis.

P.S.

so please, don't delude yourselves into thinking this is some new dawning, it isn't. the dark powers that supported the bush regime are still out there, holding fast to the reins of actual power.

I haven't been totally happy with Obama to date, but honestly, things can only be looking up with Bush leaving office.  Thank all that is good in the universe that we are less than two days away from the end of the Bush era.  And I'm not at all offended by a big ole party to celebrate that.

I loved the readings and the fact that there were readings.  I loved the Jamie Foxx imitation of Obama's election night speech.  I loved the fact that the organizers were trying to appeal to as many segments of the country as possible.  It was an attempt at walking the walk...

I thought all of the singers did well given the cold and the acoustics.  I'm an opera fan so I loved Renee' Fleming's rendition of one of my favorite songs. I don't think I'd ever heard Garth Brooks (at least intentionally) but I thought that he got the crowd into it.

And I can't remember who sang the Blues Brothers' song but it was fun.  

Since Obama's arrival was broadcast at the beginning of the broadcast, that means that Obama was not even seated for the event when Robinson gave his prayer.

Robinson was the "olive branch" Obama was handing out the the LGBT community because of all the protest over Rev Warren.  And then they specifically schedule him to appear BEFORE the broadcast began.

The audio problems at the live event may have been accidental.  The audio problems may have only been at SOME of the HUGE speakers on the mall.  But, it is curious how those audio problems began just as Robinson started to speak and cleared up just after his prayer ended.

Obama also said he thought Bush made "the best decisions that he could at times under some very difficult circumstances."

This is last Friday that Obama came up with this crap.

I don't think Bush is a good guy.
I think he's a bad guy.
He made terrible decisions.
Not wrong decisions. Terrible decisions.
I couldn't care less if he loves his family, and I don't believe he could have led us to meaningless wars, killing kids, if he loved his country.

Today Obama said he wanted to fulfill the dreams of "our" founding fathers. I think this is delusional crazy talk. If he were serious he'd take off the flag pin and kick Rick Warren of the set of what should be a sacred moment. Sacred in the sense that it is meaningful.

I was watching a re-broadcast of the program, "The Prisoner" produced by Patrick McGoohan. The scenes of the little village, with its' little marching bands and martial music, going around in circles put me in mind of the idiocy I feel is unfolding before us. I couldn't believe Obama's train ride. It looks as if he's in a kiddie park.

I know I'm supposed to get into the spirit of something or other.
I'm supposed to be celebrating. But I'm aware that every day an American soldier is being killed for nothing. I'm aware that American soldiers are being made to kill innocent people on a daily basis - with no end in sight.

I'm aware that people have lost their homes - and the government isn't going to do anything to help them get them back. They are spending our hard-earned tax money bailing out the rich and letting the poor go about having lost everything.

I just saw Obama hug Bishop Robinson at the Lincoln Memorial and it did my heart good. Unfortunately it was right after he hugged Bono so none of the gasbags (that I heard) mentioned it.

I so wish they'd asked Robinson to give the invocation at the inauguration and had Rick Warren do today's event with a bunch of celebrities. He fits into that category far better than Father Robinson.

digby

Joe Biden was a downer after that.

Listen to all of the platitudes that are being tossed around by politicians, pundits, celebrities, reporters etc when they are talking about the hopes and dreams for the future coming true, about we're the ones, etc, etc .  And almost to the one you could add the phrase "unless you're gay" to the end of each phrase that comes out of their mouths and the phrase still makes perfect sense.

That'll teach me to make sure I check in with TL every day.