Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Oh Happy Day

Yesterday, Inauguration Day in the U.S., was like the Fourth of July in January roundabout Exit 151. Amid the snow and ice and remnants of winter holiday decorations, many houses were resplendent with flags and bunting. I put up a flag, but cheerfully concede this one takes the cake. (Notice the number of stars – I wonder how many joys and sorrows this flag has marked.)

Inauguration Day decorations

Reclaiming flag-waving from yahoos and scoundrels was only one of the many marvels of the day. The biggest marvel undoubtedly was the huge, excited, well-mannered crowd in Washington – DC police reported no incidents and no arrests among the eager witnesses to history. The best? I'm not sure – I loved the music, the sung and spoken word, the wise and witty benediction, but perhaps it was the inaugural address, with its triumph of reason and reasonableness, embrace of our patchwork heritage, lack of posturing and doublespeak, and explicit care for commonweal and commonwealth.

Grassroots Hat

All in all, it makes me happy to wear my Grassroots Hat, knit from worsted oddments. There's a clever allegory lurking in the grassroots somewhere, but I stand content with this exclamation: three cheers for President Barack Hussein Obama!

7 comments:

Cindy G said...

What a great happy picture! I feel the same way about reclaiming the flag.

Kristen said...

Hear! Hear!

craftivore said...

What a cool hat! I had hardly believe Obama is finally our president, it's so great. Now I will start worrying that something will happen to him.

Kim said...

Hip hip Hooray! Well said. An absolutely awesome day all around. That door is wonderful and so is your hat.

Jessica said...

Amen!!

And I love that hat!

Suzy Girl said...

I have been singing that line in my head ever since Obama was elected and now inaugurated... "Oh Happy Day"!!
Cool hat. Love it!!

Calling on Kahlo said...

It was a great speech. It made me very proud because he was intelligent and articulate. What a great motivation to our youth, intelligence is embraced (again)!