Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration Central Baby!


Are you ready?

It's here.

Monday, January 19

7:47pm - The first official comment on the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America!! I plan to "live blog" throughout the events tomorrow with all my thoughts and commentary, so check in as often as you can to get the important details (aka - what will Michelle wear?!?!). If you want to play along at home, you'll need to follow NBC's coverage, as I'm a loyal peacock girl (I love you Tom Brokaw!). Blogging will start promptly at 7:00am with the Today show - can't wait!!!

Tuesday, January 20

6:49 - I'm awake. That is a sea of humanity on the National Mall. Whoa.

And they've arrived at the White House to have Krispy Kreme donuts with the Bushes. Love the fact that the new Presidential limo is called "the beast."

Haven't had a good enough look at Michelle's outfit, but oooo, they're getting out of the car. Dang, Jill Biden - work those knee high boots!

Faux paux - no one greeted the Bidens when they got to the White House... they had to just walk into the place...

Michelle brought Laura a gift!!! Ooooo, damn, you're so classy. Okay, interesting outfit choice, it's a little sparkly, but my initial thought is I'm liking it.

6:56 - Getting ready to switch over to NBC Today Show. I'm on CNN at the moment, and Wolf Blitzer is irritating me already.

Thank goodness they got a decent weather day in D.C.

6:59 - Previous record for the largest crowd at an Inauguration (which I'm hereby abbreviating to "Inaug" was Lyndon Johnson with a million people.

7:00 - Yes, Tom Brokaw is there!! Ooooh, Peggy Noonan's voice is annoying. Oh, Tom, you're so wise. You're like Dumbledore and Gandalf rolled into one.

7:02 - Where are the Obama girls?

Oh my, Michelle's wearing a dress by a Cuban designer... Ann Coulter is going to have a field day.

7:08 - First update from Chuck Todd, the poor man's Tim Russert!

Wow, apparently, I should have been up at 3:00am to get all the coverage. Sorry folks, I'm cursed with the time zone from hell.

7:18 - A triumvirate of newsmen - Brian Williams, Lester Holt, and the one and only Tommy B.

Okay, low-key on the action for the moment, because everyone's just filling time while the key players are in the White House taking a bathroom break having coffee and chatting.

Hm, Obama actually takes the oath at 11:56 so that he's officially sworn in by noon.

Magic Johnson! Boy, anyone who's anyone managed to snag tickets to this show.

Ha! Just read an article about how the D.C. police put up signs near the inaug sites stating "Prostitution Free Zone." Are they a security threat? :)

Sandra Day O'Connor in the house! (Former Supreme Court Justice folks, c'mon.)

7:24 - No aides at the coffee clutch, so not likely to find out what they're chatting about. (Side note - John Cusack! John Cusack!)

7:25 - Can they make the expectations for his speech even higher? (P.S. Totally forgot that Obama is a Grammy winner for his reading of his book!)

Oh no, Ann Curry is with the crowd and has a microphone... god help us. Good time for a bathroom break.

Ooooo, Hillary's coat is super cute. Nice color too. Well done, Hil, well done.

At the luncheon following the swearing in, the guests will be dining on china that replicates what Lincoln had!

7:33 - Last commercial break until after the swearing in - get your snacks now!! (Have Cheerios, will blog.)

7:37 - Brian Williams was awoken at 2 am by people outside his hotel setting up tables to sell Barack Obama tapestries :)

Want to get some unique Obama merchandise? Check out this gallery of items put together by NBC news found here.

Big motorcade movement... who's there?

Jill Biden and Lynn Cheney exiting the White House. Seriously must learn more about this Jill Biden - she seems like she could stir up some trouble...

7:44 - Lord almighty Barbara Bush looks old. Oh no! Michelle not green gloves!! Get that woman some cream colored gloves!!!

7:45 - Split screen! An empty doorway at the WH and what?!? Why is Cheney in a wheelchair? Good lord, he strained his back lifting boxes yesterday. How ridiculous. Don't tell me he was actually packing his own shiznit... who's that poor girl that has to push Cheney's lazy arse around all day? Lord have mercy.

7:46 - 4 to 5 inches of steel plating on the new pres limos... John McCain! And, here they come, walking out the door. Bush, you're so short. Damn. That limo is a beast. What are they talking about in the limo? 10 bucks says Obama's checking his Blackberry :)

7:49 - Limo traffic jam! Hehe... maybe there's a mini bar in the pres limo... Bush won't imbibe, but I can totally see Obama doing a quick vodka shot before his speech.

I want to see Sasha and Malia! (Weird how their names always roll off the tongue in that order, yet Malia is the elder.) Apparently, Malia's a fashion maven in her own right - read about it here.

7:59 - Agh! My TiVo flipped to something it thinks it needs to record!!!! I'm missing limos sitting in a line!!!!

Laura Bush's outfit is unremarkable. Completely non-memorable. Gosh, I'm so torn about Michelle's. Obama's arrived! They're at the capital... still haven't managed to get Cheney out of the limo... Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, hope he doesn't get a few moments alone with Bush... nice tidbit about how JFK almost killed the hat industry in 1960 by appearing without one at his inaug... ouch, the Supremes don't get to wear coats over their robes! Hope they have some long undies on beneath...

8:05 - New members of the administration are taking their seats... few recognizable faces right now, but we'll know them soon enough... flipped to CNN for a moment, nothing different over there... Al Gore makes his entrance with Tipper... Brian, we need some gossip!

8:09 - yes, Chuck Todd. He'll have some gossip. Ah, he's at the White House... apparently, they were doing some spackling at the WH this morning... Bush daughters must have tacked up some posters in their room or something :) Allegedly, the Bush's are all packed and moved out, no need for moving vans today, all they have left in the WH is their personal luggage that they'll carry onto the helicopter with them.

8:13 - Bush 41 has a cane and a limp. Still planning to jump out of another "perfectly good airplane" to celebrate his next birthday. The Carters are next, they look pretty young and vigorous... Rosalynn has a plain white turtleneck on? Rosie, at least jazz it up with a fancy scarf good grief - have you learned nothing from your disastrous fashion choices when your hubby was in the WH?

8:15 - Hil and Bill on the move.

8:19 - I've been corrected by my good source TWP - Obama is not a drinker. Why is Barbara leaving old George behind? Could she help him a little bit... good grief.

8:22 - Bush twins are looking tasteful. Henry Hager (Jenna's hubby) looks a little shellshocked.

I can't stop looking at Barbara Bush's giant purple scarf... why are she and 41 matching?!?

First daughters!!! Oh my god, how freaking cute are they!?!?!?!

8:24 - Love the outfits - love love love!! And Grandma is following behind, she's going to live in the WH with everyone and keep the girls in line. My lord those are two photogenic little girls.

Laura Bush and Lynn Cheney look as plastic as ever. Smile. Do something! Quite the cheers for the girls... awww... their parents must be so proud of them... oops, they're like, oh, okay, not time to sit down yet... ah! Stop showing Sasha through the funhouse bullet proof glass - her face looks crazy!

8:27 - Laura Bush said "Hey everybody" as she entered...

Malia's sassy! And she's totally taking pics with her digital camera :) I'll get back to the Malia sassiness in a minute...

Jill and Michelle enter... Jill has a Ph.D and wants to teach at a community college in D.C. Apparently, they're running 16 minutes late already...

8:31 - W enters... Dr. Strangelove Cheney rolls in a separate entrance...

Who are all these clowns surrounding Bush? Better look at the neckline of Michelle's dress - nice detailing...

What's the holdup? Does Michelle not have a seat or something? Move your coats people, you don't need to save seats anymore... debate over what Michelle's holding in her hand... a red clutch or the Lincoln Bible that Obama'll use...?

8:35 - Sasha peeks around Mom's waist to check out the procession... last "Hail to the Chief" for Dubya... checked Wikipedia... Mrs. Carter does not look 81 years old...

Obama's approaching the door... wow.

8:39 - Okay, taking a quick break to a) soak up the moment Obama enters... the crowd is going to lose it, and b) gotta refill my water glass.

8:42 - Oh my gosh it's so exciting!!!!!

How does he stay so calm!??! Alright, first we have to hear from the Chair of the Inaug festivities... ooo, Obama and Biden get fancy leather chairs instead of the metal folding chairs everyone else is freezing their butts on...

8:46 - early CNN estimates are 2 million people.

Bush is totally not listening to this woman speak. Obama looked like he was going to vomit for a sec there... nope, okay, he's alright.

Invocation time - Rick Warren, founder of the evangelical "Saddleback Church" - yes, that's really the name. He also wrote all those Purpose Driven Life books... so far pretty basic... oooo, invoking Dr. King in heaven... shoot, I stopped listening to google something, and now I have no clue what he's talking about.

8:54 - Aretha baby, I have all the respect in the world for you, but take off that horrendous hat! It makes you look like a Christmas present. Not good.

Random thought - where's Oprah? How come we haven't seen her yet? You know she ain't sitting in Chicago missing out on this...

Yup, they're definitely behind schedule.

8:58 - Biden's middle name is Robinette? That's embarassing. The VP oath of office is not set out in the Constitution; there have been several variations, but it's the same one now that Senators take when they're sworn in.

Of course - John Williams arranged the Itzhak Pearlman/YoYo Ma piece (seriously - I don't think Speilberg movies or the Olympics are going to have any music at all once Williams dies). YoYo is such a cutie! He's all smiles and having a great time.

9:02 - This just in from Historygirlie: "Oprah is in Washington....her show is being broadcast from Washington yesterday and today. She's not ON STAGE, per se, but she's in the super close up section facing the stage." Thanks to TWP and Historygirlie for being my unofficial researchers and reporters!

9:04 - Here we go! The big show starts now!

Adorable! They brought in a little footstool for the girls to stand on so they can see. Oh my god he flubbed the oath!!!!!! Breathe Barack, you can do this!!!

Whew okay, he got through it. Look at Sasha wave! And the crowd goes wild!

9:07 - Speech time... first applause break is for Bush's service to the country... whoa! "greed and irresponsibility on the part of some"... way to slam Wall Street... (who's the dude moving down the steps behind him? get out of the shot doofus!)... big applause for the "we will meet the challenges" line...

Nice... I like the tone of the speech so far. Tough. Honest. Lots of talk about the fact that we're going to have to make hard choices and that big plans shouldn't be doubted - we have to be willing to try.

Big slam at Bush's foreign policy and how his administration treated the rest of the world. Hints at the fact that we can protect our physical security and our ideals at the same time.

9:23 - Alas, I have to take a break. My computer is about to go on strike, and blogspot is starting to flake out from the flurries of posting (and probably the fact that a few other people in the world might be trying to use the internet right now). I'll try to resume my ramblings once Obama's speech is over and the commentators start sharing tidbits. Go listen to the words and celebrate the day!

9:30 - I'm back. My blood's boiling a little bit from reading comments on other blogs, where people are so disgusted with Obama/Democrats they're all like "oh, the only thing I'm watching today is last night's episode of The Bachelor." Yes, because that's just what our country needs more of. Instead of people paying attention to politics and what's going on in the world, stick your head in the sand ostrich style for four years and pretend like it isn't happening. I cringed for eight years every time President Bush opened his mouth, but that didn't stop me from watching his inauguration and speeches and following the events of the country and world. You can dislike Obama, his policies, his actions, whatever - that's your right. But at least have the intelligence to realize that if you want to argue against what he believes, you're going to have to be aware of what's going on... Whew - off my soap box.

9:34 - I missed the poem while I was fuming at small-mindedness. Was it good?

I think the pastor who's speaking now needs to borrow the girls' stepstool.

9:38 - National Anthem, and then we're out! I believe they're off to lunch next, so there won't be much for the networks to cover except for recapping what's happened. (Aside - love that the Obamas are singing along.) Official ceremony, over.

Tom Brokaw's thoughts - eloquent speech, made a direct challenge to this country about global affairs - "we are ready to lead once more" - and signaled to the world that the U.S. is going to act differently

9:58 - My final notes for this coverage... the Chief Justice (who Obama did not vote in favor of), fumbled the oath because he chose to try and recite it without notes. Goofus. I'm going to be tuning into the parade and balls throughout the day, but I must leave my keyboard to face the day (remember it's only 10am here!). Happy Inauguation Day!

5 comments:

Anonymous,  January 20, 2009 at 6:24 AM  

Please tell me you at least get live inaugural coverage on the west coast?!?!?!? I pray for you there's no time delay on the inauguration!

TWP

Anonymous,  January 20, 2009 at 7:40 AM  

I'm sorry but I'm going to give Michelle's outfit a thumbs down. It's a tiny bit....Golden Girls! Too much sparkle. Let's hope the dress for the inaugural balls tonight is more impressive and that the poor kids aren't bedazzled as well.

TWP

ebs handler January 20, 2009 at 2:34 PM  

Great coverage...and I agree wholeheartedly that Roberts (the Bush appointee) mucked up the oath. Obama probably had it memorized and the Supreme oaf threw him off his game.

historygirlie January 20, 2009 at 3:54 PM  

Well done, Mugs. You are now one step closer to our wish of being historical commentators in documentaries. Your next gig....sitting next to me, along with George Stephanopolis and Tom Brokaw in 2013!!!!

Maybe Farmer and Maverick will spring for new winter wool coats and cute (not Aretha) hats for our commentating gig.

~HG

Anonymous,  January 20, 2009 at 7:56 PM  

My inauguration day:

S4K decides streaming video from CNN will be just fine for the inauguration, no back up tv needed.

@*#$*#@*!!

We basically had blips of pictures
alongside NPR, which luckily someone realized at 9:01 PST would be very helpful.

So...(my story has a point)...

My special inauguration moment came tonight, while fastforwarding through both CNN and NBC's coverage, following right along with your timed blog. Thanks for the good tips on what to watch and what to skip!

P.S. Girls outfits? A+. Can't wait to see what pup they get too!

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