Today

I was thinking a bit about what I could write about today that had to do with pop culture. It seems like there was supposed to be something that was happening today that was going to be a big deal...

That's right today is the day that Barack Obama to the Oath of Office as our 44th President of the United States of America. I think that along with most Americans today I took time to watch the process of the Inauguration take place. It was so very cool to witness this piece of history take place. The grandness of it was incredible. Seeing the cameras pan out over the National Mall and seeing the huge numbers of people who were there spoke to the magnitude of the event.

Rick Warren said his invocation and I was impressed with it. He did just as he said he would I believe and held true to who he is. I know some people felt that maybe he should have used more inclusive language, should have not invoked the name of Jesus, but he said all along that he is a Christian pastor asked to pray and that is just what he did. He prayed as he knew how to pray. It seems that we would not ask a Muslim to not say the name of Muhammad or Allah in a prayer, not to change how they do things or to be more "inclusive" in their wording. The biggest things that I noticed with his prayer were that 1) he ended with the Lord's Prayer, which I wouldn't have thought to do and 2) he sure seemed to have a lot more hair than what I remembered from seeing on those Purpose Driven Life videos.

Joe Biden took his oath as Vice-President. They commented after all was said and done that due to the fact that things were for some reason running behind, when Bush's term was officially over at 12:01 EST, and Obama had not yet been sworn in, Biden would have been the President on a technicality for about 12-15 minutes. Just thought that was interesting is all.

Finally there was the Inauguration of our 44th President. The words of the oath were jumbled a bit and there were a couple of gaps it seemed, but for the most part it went off without a problem. President Obama then took the podium and gave his Inaugural Address. The full text of that can be found here if you missed it or just like to read speeches. In the address he spoke of the greatness of our nation and how we will continue to strive for that greatness and will strive to increase that by reaching out to other countries with an open hand of friendship if they will only be willing to unclench their fists. It was moving to hear him talk of peace and hope. The only thing that I wanted to hear was for him to bust out the line at the end and ask: "Can you smell what Barack is cooking?" That is of course due to the fact that I think he sounds like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson when he really starts getting into what he is saying.

It has been an historical day already. I'm sure that there is much more to come. I feel excited to be a part of this history. If this isn't something that will influence our pop culture then I'm not sure what is. Peace and Love y'all.