Written By:
all_your_base - Date published:
11:58 pm, January 20th, 2009 - 6 comments
Categories: International, interweb -
Tags: inauguration
The embedded stream below is meant to work even outside the US. Fingers crossed.
If you find/know of another good live source drop the link in the comments.
[UPDATE: 10:30am Live stream below removed – replaced with recorded oath and address]
YouTube’s “inauguration” channel is here, but it’s probably not live. Might be good to catch the action if you’re not up for an early start or a late night though.
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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“The peaceful handover of power from one party to another – only in America could this be possible”
If I hear that one more time I’ll… probably go and make a pot of tea actually.
Morons.
I did enjoy seeing the loving gaze that seemed to take forever as their wonderful former President Bush flew away in the sky. Its not like they’ll get those exclusive interviews with the President now.
Video of speech and print transcript on TVNZ:
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/president-barack-obamas-inauguration-speech-2448539
Woke up to late to watch the speech so far, but I’ve been watching some great analysis on Al Jazeera on Triangle. They had both Naomi Klein and Robert Fisk on when I woke up. Fisk was damning of the lack of reference in the speech to Israel-Gaza & thought Obama would let it drift without doing anything decisive before the next US presidential election. He said the time to do something would be to take the initiative at the start of the presidential term.
Naomi Klein said Obama is a centrist, but has already shown he can be pushed by public pressure from the left. A message to the left to get out and pressure Obama on key issues.
There’s a guy on now saying Obama showed in the speech that he is scared.
A Palestinian woman said while Obama didn’t talk of Israel-Gaza, he didn’t make any expression of solidarity with Israel.
A US guy said it was unprecedented for an inaugural speech to take a line that the US has to do something to aid the environment in the way Obama did.
Good riddance to Bush.
Fisk now saying it was also a big mistake for Obama not to mention Guantanamo in the speech. Also said we need something immediate on this. He said we need a 2nd inaugural speech that isn’t a prayer or….(?something similar). Fisk said don’t know if Obama is a weak president or not so far. He doesn’t want to take the gloss off the day for Americans (speaking as a non-US person), but he thinks, as presidential speeches go, this was a weak one.
People on Al Jazeera now asking why Obama didn’t push the envelop more in his speech.
But a guy is saying Obama didn’t mention a lot of things (too many to mention and tick off like a dhopping list eg Katrina). Obama was making more general points of direction. But someone is saying Obama could have said something clear on one issue eg Palestine or Guantanamo, as a metaphor of his approach to all the other foreign conflict points.
Comment now from a journo in Iraq. People are looking carefully at words used in speech. Seems like Obama will leave training troops in Iraq beyond the 6 months withdrawal and this is not what people were expecting. Generally Iraq people see Obama as a force for change, but realise practical limitations on him, from material resources or conditions during financial crisis, and the US administration generally.
I really hope he can change things in the US after the Bush/Cheney dickheads but the “left” seems to put a lot of faith in a man who is to the right of John Key.
I sincerely hope this is not the last we see of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, and Rove. In fact, I’d like to see them tomorrow – in the dock facing war crime charges.
Dreams are free.