Barack Obama’s Inauguration Fail

by John Hawkins | January 21, 2009 8:40 am

Happily, I didn’t bother to watch the pomp and pageantry of Obama’s inauguration. However, I certainly did read up on it and as per usual since Obama has come on the scene — despite the fact that the press hailed it as the most wonderful event in human history, it was chock full of incompetence, radicalism, and ill omens for people hoping that Obama won’t be a disaster as President.

Let’s run through just part of the litany, shall we?

* During a recession, Obama threw a 170 million dollar party for himself. Is that the change he promised? Being more wasteful that any President in history?

* The oath of office[1] wasn’t even done correctly,

For a couple of smooth-talking constitutional experts, Chief Justice John Roberts and President Barack Obama had a hard time getting through the constitutional oath of office.

There was a false start by Obama, who started to respond before Roberts had completed the first phrase. Obama ended up saying the first two words — “I, Barack” — twice.

Then there was an awkward pause after Roberts prompted Obama with these words: “That I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully.” The chief justice seemed to say “to” rather than “of,” but that was not the main problem. The main problem was that the word “faithfully” had floated upstream in the constitutional text, which actually says this: “That I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States.”

Obama seemed to realize this, pausing quizzically after saying, “that I will execute.”

Roberts gave it another try, getting closer but still not quite right with this: “Faithfully the office of president of the United States.” He omitted the word “execute.”

Obama now repeated Roberts’ initial error of putting “faithfully” at the end. Starting where he had abruptly paused, he said, “The office of president of the United States faithfully.”

Obama’s first act as President, saying the oath of office, was a complete mess. That’s a cheerful omen, isn’t it?

* The left showed the same sort of grace and class they have for the last eight years by chanting[2], “Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye” to Bush as he left.

* As mediocre as the Bush Administration was on illegal immigration, this may be an indication that Obama will be even worse[3],

Well, isn’t this special? After overstaying her visa, ignoring a federal deportation order for years, escaping apprehension in Boston, and taking refuge in Cleveland, the destitute illegal alien aunt of Barack Obama somehow found her way to Washington, D.C., for her nephew’s inauguration.

Federal immigration officials couldn’t find her, but she was spotted by several media outlets and partygoers around the Beltway.

Guess if you’re a relative of Barack Obama, you’re above the law.

* Even the lefties at Firedoglake[4] were incensed about the unorganized trainwreck that the inauguration festivities turned into,

That’s right, despite having in hand magic purple tickets, and lining up hours before the gates opened, I saw nothing. I heard, beyond the guns, nothing.

I followed all the signs, I went to the appointed spot. . . and what? There was almost no one who had a clue of what was to happen next. Some people who seemed to know what they were talking about stood on the back of a garbage truck and shouted–sans any amplification–so that all anyone could make out was that they were pointing in a certain direction. Most of us followed.

…And, there I stood. I stood next to women from Florida who had saved for months to make this trip. I stood next to a woman separated by the crowd from her husband. I stood next to people who had been standing in that same spot since 5am. . . since, in one case, 3am.

At about 10:30, two women with Day-Glo vests who seemed like they were speaking in some official capacity, pushed down the middle of this crowd, explaining to a few people at a time that they would be opening a second entry directly behind us. But looking there, I saw no signs of movement. This news, however, caused about a third of the crowd to turn 180 degrees and try to work themselves against the general flow. Needless to say, a nightmare.

And then things began on the Hill, you could tell because they would stop letting people in every time anyone of national import was being led to the Capitol balcony. I knew this because a guy next to me had CNN on his mobile phone.

And then we would move just enough to cause everyone behind me to surge forward. I was pushed. I was crushed. A woman in a wheelchair repeatedly was pushed into me–I finally had to warn her that I was about to fall on the woman and she needed to back off.

Sound horribly organized? Well, wait until the same level of competence and organization is applied to healthcare, the environment, the economy, and everything else under President Government’s administration.

* They apparently pulled big mouthed Joseph Lowery out of some sort daze he’s been in since 1955 so he could snidely insult white Americans[5] while a smiling Barack Obama looked on,

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around … when yellow will be mellow … when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right.

What, did he write that 40 or 50 years ago and promise to read it when the first black President is elected? As far as I’m concerned Joseph Lowery and Barack Obama can both kiss my white ass and shove their pathetic, crybaby grievance mongering where the sun doesn’t shine.

* On Wall Street, where they realize that Obama’s policies have the potential to utterly ruin America’s economy over the long haul, the excitement was quite a bit more muted[6] than it was in DC,

U.S. stocks sank, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst Inauguration Day decline, as speculation banks must raise more capital sent financial shares to an almost 14-year low.

Barack Obama: Driving stocks to an almost 14 year low! That’s hope and change you can believe in!

Long story short: The inauguration was just like Barack Obama: no class, wildly overhyped, and considerably less impressive than advertised.