Singing!

[ailbhe]

Today I will remember...

Watching a black woman singing for a country with a black man as President, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, to thee I sing. Land where my fathers died..."

That nearly made me cry, but I was grinning too much because of Obama saying "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America," which made me laugh because I was dancing to that the other day, with my girls - it's from Fred Astaire.

I was grinning because of "We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost.We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do."

"For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life."

Later I watched Barack and Michelle Obama walking sections of the route to the White House, presumably getting back int he car when Security got nervous or when Michelle's lovely outfit got too chilly. She held his hand. She waved both her arms, in turn, but always she transferred his hand to her other one. She held onto him on that walk. And the children stayed in the cars.

---

I have been singing all evening. I've been singing "I pick myself up, I dust myself off, and I start all over again," and I have been singing "Good morning, America, how are ya?" and I have been singing "You can get anything you want in Alice's Restaurant."

Comments

[iuil.livejournal.com]

I've had Leonard Cohen's Democracy in my head since November!

[iuil.livejournal.com]

Actually, must post that link to my own journal!

[clanwilliam.livejournal.com]

I grinned and choked a bit during Obama's speech.

But I just started crying the moment Joseph Lowery started on his benediction. I was in chat with a bunch of Americans who all instantly recognised the quote "God of our weary years", but watching a very elderly black man get up and say it *so* heartfeltly set me off. I cried even more when I discovered what it was.

And then I started smiling and laughing as he went on. And *then* I found out who he was.

MLK couldn't be there, so he came instead. And he was amazing.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That was the moment that got me -- I know "Lift Ev'ry Voice" by heart.

[ai731.livejournal.com]

There was also a lovely moment when Barack was holding his younger daughter's hand and Michelle holding her older daughter's hand, and they all walked up the ramp, waving to everyone, to watch the parade from the viewing stand.

I believe I heard that the girls were at the White House with their grandmother (who will be living there with them) rather than in the car.

I hope they get to have a play house in the back yard like Jimmy Carter's daughter Amy did!

[ailbhe]

They were in a car, but not the same one as their parents. I saw one shot of Sasha waving and grinning and bouncing like mad :)

I sent them a postcard saying I hoped to see them on Youtube, rollerskating through the corridors of power.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of reasons why I like and respect my new President.

But what makes me love him is that he sees the same America that I was taught, as a child, to believe was real. Maybe by the time he's finished, it will be.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

THAT!

I've been crying happy tears, on and off.

I might be able to believe in the promise of those beautiful documents again.

[clarahippy.livejournal.com]

I watched it all and loved the way Michelle hung onto the President, it was really moving :-)

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

The way she looked at him when he flubbed his lines during the swearring-in was what did it for me.

[mrscosmopilite.livejournal.com]

I loved the way she looked at him then.It made me smile.
I thought the actual swearing in was such a moment, he looked nervous, as though it really really meant something, not that he was just going through the motions.

[caerleon.livejournal.com]

Watching a black woman singing for a country with a black man as President

Where was that then?.. why is Obama a "black man" because *one* of his parents happened to come from Kenya?.. I saw an American become an American president.. why is he black because his father's black, and not white because his mother's white?..

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

... in addition to the commenter above, in our society (at least, American society), someone with a single drop of black blood is considered black. At least, that used to be true - I think it's changing now. But for Obama - half black, half white - it definitely still holds true in people's perception of him.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

... and he is black because he identifies as black, and as a white person it's not for me to tell him that he's wrong.

[rrc.livejournal.com]

Because back in the days of slavery you only needed a single black great-grandparent to be a 'black' slave?

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*sings with you*

[thereyougothen.livejournal.com]

i kinda wish my parents weren't here, because I would have been dancing around the living room with my boys. as it was, i spent most of the speech explaining what this word and that word, and that concept meant to mostly N, but sometimes T. that was good.

but feeling free enough to dance around the living room would have been better.

[gloriap.livejournal.com]

Very well said. Thank you.

I am prouder than I have been in years to be an American, and I think the world has reason to be hopeful for us and about us again.

I remember Frank Sinatra singing it.

[gloriap.livejournal.com]

Nothing's impossible, I have found.
For when my chin is on the ground,
I pick myself up, dust myself off,
Start all over again.

Don't lose your confidence if you slip.
Be grateful for a pleasant trip,
And pick yourself up; dust yourself off;
Start all over again.

Work like a soul inspired
'Til the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
But you'll be a man, my son.

Will you remember the famous men
Who had to fall to rise again.
So take a deep breath;
Pick yourself up;
Dust yourself off;
Start all over again.

[k425.livejournal.com]

I listened to the speech on the train. As he said "So it has been" I thought "so mote it be" and was amazed when his next words were "so it must be".