Old School Obama

When I arrived at work today I was delighted to discover that my colleague, Wendy the communications director, had set up the LCD projector in the conference room with the webcast of CNN's live inauguration coverage. As the festivities being broadcast drew closer and closer to the main event, the live webcast kept getting slower and slower with lengthier pauses, and finally freezes that lasted from seconds to minutes.

The ever resourceful Wendy was already in motion with plan b - a little old television that came from I know not where.

And she had TV rabbit ears perched in her window to improve the picture and lessen the static.

It's a good thing inauguration happens January 20 - because had it been scheduled for February 20-something we would have been S.O.L!

CNN finally admitted their website was overwhelmed with too much traffic to stay up. They tried, but we didn't want to listen to a lurching speech, so we turned it off and stuck with the old school television broadcast - all twelve of us, staff and some guests, crammed into Wendy's tiny office for an historic event; the inauguration of the 44th president who happens to be a bi-racial American.

I know, I know! Everyone calls him the First African American President. I am not denying that. But in solidarity with my colleague Wendy, who happens to be married to an amazing black man and the mother of a beautiful bi-racial daughter, I will not deny his white mother, either.

What an amazing day.

Too much to say.

As a Christian I was embarrassed by Pastor Warren's lack of tact - why would you invoke and invite participation in a Jesus prayer (aka the Lord's Prayer) at a national event that was specifically designed as an INCLUSIVE event?

I was delighted and thankful for Rev. Lowrey's wise, witty, and humorful benediction. I especially liked his twist on scripture when he remarked that he longs for a time "when tanks will be beaten into tractors." He prayed with the spirit of timelessness, the intentional inclusion and hope of the Obama campaign, and with the authority of a well respected elder. Thanks be to God.

I am joyful and hopeful on this historic day.