Like anyone who followed the 2008 election closely, the inauguration of Barack Obama tomorrow seems as much like the end as it does the beginning. If this were a movie, the audience attending the inauguration would applaud wildly as the new president takes the oath of office -- hugs and tears and hats in the air and swelling music -- Barack would look at Michelle and say, "We did it," she'd cry and laugh, and the credits would roll. If it were an especially bad movie, a frustrated John McCain would get tangled up in the bunting and fall off something.
But this isn't Hollywood. History continues endlessly, the credits never roll, the audience never shuffles out of the theater, inspired and made wiser by schmaltzy lessons learned. We're in for four years at least where Barack Obama will both disappoint us and give us reason to celebrate. The movie would end where the presidency begins because the promise of perfection is plausible, depictions of perfection are not. Barack Obama will disappoint -- that's an absolute guarantee -- but it's not unreasonable to hope that the balance of his presidency will lean toward wisdom.
Today, Obama is still "the future president" and all that promise is already showing a ding or two. The choice of Rick Warren to give the convocation is disappointing to many -- myself included. There are some aisles which you shouldn't reach across. Getting this particular wizard to shake the medicine rattle over the proceedings can't be seen as anything other than a mistake. He's homophobic now and he'll always be a homophobe. I always say that meeting someone who's crazy halfway is halfway crazy. There are some compromises you should never make and some prejudices you should never forgive. While you pull them up in prominence, they drag you down with their idiocy... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
