Yesterday was, of course, the inauguration of Barack H. Obama as the 44th President of the United States. I choose not to go into politics right now, but I was amazed at the coverage over here. I suspect I would've gone positively nuts with what the level of coverage must have been in the U.S. While Americans were still sleeping, CNN International was already trying to lure those of us in Europe into an all day viewing extravaganza. I had to go to work, of course, but left early so I could be back home in time to hopefully catch the swearing-in around 6 PM our time. Even on the drive in to work, though, I heard frequent mention on the radio (all in German, of course, except the US military's station) of "Barack Obama" and he was on the front page of all five of the newspapers that are delivered here to the hotel, which was also the case this morning.
Anyway, it was interesting viewing. I think CNN has gone way overboard on their weird technology toys. "The Moment" stuff seemed kind of unnecessary, but thank goodness they didn't seem to be channeling anyone via holograph like they did during election coverage, which was just downright creepy. I found (for about 10 seconds) their fastest-turnaround-from-satellite-other-than-military-satellite image of the Mall and the ant hill-like clusters of people fascinating. Amazing number of people. I would have liked to have had more coverage from Candy Crowley, though -- did she seriously request to be in the pickup truck on the parade route? I'm thinking not so much. And was it just me, or did Wolf Blitzer seem to be trying desperately to maintain control over the assembled team and try to keep Anderson Cooper at bay? Does Wolf fear that CNN is going to do an Aaron Brown job on him, too? Who can say....
It was also interesting viewing the coverage while in another country. I may not be a flag-waving kind of American, generally, but there's something about seeing our wildly colorful flag flying when abroad that always gets me choked up. I have particularly vivid memories of it flying above the US embassies in Tokyo and El Salvador. Seeing the different versions of the flag through time in the background of the inauguration stage area got to me. And the singing of "My Country 'tis of Thee." And the soldiers in the crowd. And even Bush 41, a former soldier walking with his cane. By the time they actually brought out the Lincoln Bible (I can't imagine they let that out of its climate-controlled storage in the Library of Congress!) for the oath of office (seriously, Chief Justice Roberts???), they didn't need to ask me to stand as I had been on my feet for quite some time. So there were some patriotic tears shed. I do so love this country. And I am so pleased that other people around the world may (at least for now) try to love it, too.
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