And So It Begins...

And so the historic day that everyone had been talking about for months and months has finally come and gone and overall I'd say it did indeed live up to expectations. Sure... perhaps the Mall wasn't covered with 5 million people and perhaps there were issues and delays and problems in getting people to where they needed to go in order to witness the swearing in of President Obama but still, do we really need to start spinning things quite so much even before the man has even spent a full day in the Oval Office?

What I mean by 'spin' is the fact that no sooner had the last balloon fallen at the final inaugural ball last night then the news stories started to come out regarding what went right and what went wrong. We had news stories peppering the side columns throughout the day but already we began to see more prominence given to them when the main news of the day passed. This included things like stories about how the Metro system was overloaded with passengers and that they couldn't get to where they needed to go on time. There were stories on the news about how people were held up for hours in security lines and ended up barely moving for hours on end simply because they couldn't get through security fast enough. There were stories about how some people are already questioning the 'legitimacy' of the Obama administration because of a verbal gaffe on the part of Chief Justice John Roberts.

The last one there is one that really puzzles me because it was something so minor that people who are making an issue of it (or are planning on making an issue of it) are really grasping for straws. The point of contention is over how Obama took the oath. Chief Justice Roberts said, "faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States" but Obama said, "execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully." It seems a minor thing but when one calls it a 'sacred oath' I guess it really does matter. Now some are wondering why this was a gaffe on the part of Roberts when Obama said it incorrectly and the reason is that most times, the Judge presiding over the swearing in of any position will first ask the person to say, "I, Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear" whereas Justice Roberts said the line "I, Barack Hussein Obama," and took a significant pause.

When he suddenly started up again in the middle of President Obama taking the oath he most likely threw Obama's train of thought at the moment and left the up-to-then unshaken Obama a bit stirred. People are saying that he is already showing signs of being phased in public but I don't think that a slight case of the jitters on such an important day is cause to suddenly question the legitimacy or his apparent dedication and zeal to his new role. On the contrary, he didn't make a gaffe like saying "exacerbate the Office of President of the United States". I think this is all just spin that needs to be taken down a notch. If someone wants to be so exacting in saying that because the oath was taken out of order thereby making it invalid then the easiest thing to do is to take it again in private just as Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur did after similar mistakes during their swearing-in ceremonies.

These things shouldn't take away from the moment though. As I sat there watching all this happen I couldn't help but realize that this is truly historic. For the first time in the history of our country, a person from a historically oppressed racial background was taking the oath of office for the highest office in the land. He was being hailed not only because of the importance of this day but out of respect as well. No other inauguration has drawn so much attention and enthusiasm and the fact that things went as smoothly as they did is a testament to the attention and care that was shown by the city of Washington as well as the Inauguration committee. In a day filled with drama, both intended and unintended (the collapse of Senator Kennedy) it was one that will be remembered for long years to come. And something so minor as a transposition of words shouldn't take away from that moment. Stop the spin for sometime and savor the moment in time.