Mary Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 WASHINGTON ? Two days from the White House, President-elect Barack Obama joined a vast throng Sunday at a joyous pre-inauguration celebration staged among marble monuments to past heroes. "Anything is possible in America," declared the man who will confront economic crisis and two wars when he takes office. "Despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead, I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure ? that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time," the president-elect said at the conclusion of a musical extravaganza that featured U2, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and a host of other stars. Obama and his family held the seats of honor at the event, and a crowd of tens of thousands spilled from the base of the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument several blocks away in the cold, gray afternoon of mid-January. It was the high point of a full day of pre-inaugural events that included a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and a morning church service where children recalled the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Obama's motorcade drew ever-larger crowds as the day wore on and he and his wife, Michelle, and their children Sasha and Malia crisscrossed the city. "Just another typical Sunday," deadpanned the Rev. Derrick Hawkins, pastor at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, where the soon-to-be first family prayed. Of course it was anything but ? a run-up, in fact, to the first inauguration of an African-American president in a nation founded by slave-owners. Obama's aides said he was readying an inaugural address that would stress twin themes of responsibility and accountability, and they predicted he would devote his first week in office to economic recovery, setting in motion a 16-month troop withdrawal from Iraq and decreeing a code of ethics for his administration. My Prayers go with him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 Just hope his minders do a good job. Believe the FBI have already pulled in one potential assasin - albeit a crank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve the Original Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Well good luck to him and there will no doubt be enough people wanting to take him out.. Cant say i trust the guy for some reason,dont ask me why just a gut feeling... Hope i am wrong Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted January 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Maybe because he is a politician Steve? He is the first President in a very long time that I feel I can trust --hope it stays that way. I believe I told you all at the beginning of the major campaign season that America will vote in a black man before they vote in a woman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahl Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 well good luck to Obama he is going to need it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Lets hope the lift he appears to be giving to peoples' spirits in America can be passed on to the financial stage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted January 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 I watched one of the most inspiring speeches of my life - and I have watched many. We all need to pull up our boot straps and work for the common cause - that anything is possible if we are willing to work hard for it and that we want to make friends not enemies of our fellow countries. Oh and also I got if your not part of the solution you are part of the problem! Those are in my words not his. I was quite inspired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Just hope your right Mary, but I fear some of the tasks will prove insurmountable EG: I doubt that US troops will withdraw entirely from Iraq, Afghanistan will continue, those in Guantanamo will continue in a legal limbo and the economy may be beyond political control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Talk is cheap, the talk from a new incumbent in any position is even cheaper. First meeting tomorrow, "Despite what I said yesterday, what the hell shall we do?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Even if he is sincere and determined on a course, unfortunately he'll have to rely on folk who put their own interests before those of the Nation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 I wish President Obama well, he has to shoulder great responsibility and even greater expectation. I note that he has already stopped the Guantanamo trials. Interesting to see how he grapples with the dire medicare problem. There was a programme on the other night showing the work being done by a medical charity in the US, the organisation normally works in the third world...says it all I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 I suspect those that have been the most enthusiastic, will soon become the most dissapointed - usually the case with politics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safeway56 Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Remember 1997 ? Dancing in the streets to *Things Can Only Get Better*? Look how that turned out...two wars absolutely nothing to do with the UK...Millions dead and now the world's financial system seemingly in ruins. It would need the second coming of the Messiah to fix this lot, unless Obama IS the Messiah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alana Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 I am with Mary and spent the day watching a very special moment in American History...and feel that Obama will make change...be it slow as nothing is going to change over night but I feel he will be good for the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted January 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Oh Yes - you guys go ahead and look at everything negative - I should have expected it!! Too bad you naysayers have all forgotten to be human is to dream and believe, in this we are alive; not half dead corpses looking for more misery! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 That's not true Mary, I think we all wish him well. It is alas the experience of many of us that high expectations never come to fruition. Indeed I sensed in the President's speech, which was a very good one, he sought to play down expectations. I hope President Obama is a great President, not only for your country but for the world. We really are in a dreadful mess, and people are looking for great leadership in both words and actions to get us out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 We really are in a dreadful mess, and people are looking for great leadership in both words and actions to get us out of it. So roll on our election when we can look forward to Brown, Cameron or that other fella. OK where else can we look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 As the world's largest economy, to the US, that is why a successful President Obama is so important. In a globalised economy whoever leads the UK is limited as to what they can do, they might believe otherwise and even sit at the top table, but that is the reality.....and actually if truth be known Mr Brown and Mr Cameron know that, the other fella isn't worth bothering about...a very mediocre MP who just happens to be the leader of a political party due to a voting error...otherwise it would have been another very mediocre one whose name people can't pronounce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Not impressed then, Paul? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Oh Yes - you guys go ahead and look at everything negative - I should have expected it!! Too bad you naysayers have all forgotten to be human is to dream and believe, in this we are alive; not half dead corpses looking for more misery! Very nicely put Mary I hope President Obama proves to be as good as, if not better than, the huge level of expectation that many people obviously have of him. I wish him well but he's got some tough times ahead. I watched some of the highlights on TV and it even raised my spirits. There was an obvious sense of 'togetherness' and 'new belief'... quite refreshing and uplifting We could do with something like that over here One report I saw showed Mr Bush about to get into the helicopter after the handover to fly away and he seemed really pleased to be going (even the reporter said that was unusual in a presidential handover) I wonder why Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Not impressed then, Paul? With who Peter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Thought Safeway encapsulated it rather well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 The good old US of A have now got a "celeb" as president. Are we supposed to take him seriously? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Not impressed then, Paul? With who Peter. "the other fella" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 No. His party aren't either. My guess is that he will be changed after the next General Election....unless a hung Parliament saves him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.