The Day After The Day After…

It’s been a little over 48 hours since the oceans commenced their retreat, and the planet began to heal itself – more than enough time has elapsed to digest the theatre of the absurd that was Inauguration Day.

The Right has probed Obama’s speech more thoroughly than a hypochondriac’s colonoscopy, so I won’t venture any more analysis other than to say that I thought it was a decent speech, delivered with clarity and conviction by a seasoned politician. It had something for everyone – a reaffirmation of our market system and commitment to defense for conservatives, mixed with a heaping helping of “politics of meaning” on such issues as the environment, health care and social responsibility for liberals.

I appreciated Obama’s nod to George W. Bush for the latter’s graciousness during the transition, but could have done without the veiled shots at the departing administration for some of its policy decisions. Also, I thought his comments about “restoring science to its rightful place” came off as a bit self-serving, and dampened some of the goodwill he displayed in his outreach to vanquished republicans during the transition.

But he’s the Top Dog now, and expectations for big government are high, which is interesting considering that this same government is the one that consistently scored lower in approval ratings than the outgoing president. This is to say, the institution we loathe is now somehow the same one we expect to save us.

Another interesting juxtaposition was evident in the mood among the sea of Obamaniacs who descended upon the Mall. The same folks who accused the Right of being “convenient patriots” and trashed the Founding Fathers as elitist bigots were now waving miniature American flags and waxing poetic on the egalitarian principles of the Framers. I suppose it’s fashionable once again among the Left to be an American – funny how that works.

Let’s hope the Left’s new-found nationalism has a longer shelf life than the one demonstrated in the period following 9/11.