A Vomitorium: “A passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre, through which crowds can ‘spew out’ at the end of a performance.”
The Obama orgy in the fleshpots of Washington has not yet begun in earnest, and I’m already in gag mode.
The beaming tele-twits, their racial-pride roster of guests, the MLK montages, the hyperbolic homilies to the Messianic Man and The Historical Moment; the posturing from pious pundits, the overwrought, empty waffle—how low can a country, and a once-great culture, sink?
Hang in there. I’ll be back shortly with a few, recommended, DVD distractions to help get you through the next few days. I promise. (You’ll also need some grog; no getting around that.)
Update I: A spluttering Jonathan Alter of Newsweek to “Countdown” Keith: “The inauguration… here… in the capital built by Michelle Obama’s slave ancestors. …”
In case you get swept up in the tide of “history from below”: The people who established the political order described by Thomas Jefferson as “a composition of the freest principles of the English constitution, … derived from natural right and natural reason,” were predominantly British Christians.
Where’s the gratitude?
Update II: The Day of the Crowning (Jan. 20): MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow effused last night about the historical necessity–nay, obligation–to formulate an answer to the “Where Were You When” question.
A wonderful line from Peter Schiff resonates right now: “our country became great not because of what politicians do, but what they didn’t do.”
Send us word about how you’re coping with the Barack Bacchanalia.
Some more headlines from the intrepid press around the world (This segment is being constantly updated):
Black Washington looks to Obama (BBC)
What a black president means to me
Scientists optimistic over Obama
From segregation to inauguration
Difficult to Capture the Moment (MSNBC)
Watch Juan Williams Have A Wobbly
As to the last headline: Really? Let me take a timid bash: slushy, weak-minded sentimentality; senseless slobbering.
Update III: Even Sen. Ted Kennedy could not take it; he had a seizure mid-carnival. That is, another seizure. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican, also Kennedy’s official “Praise Singer,” was on hand to comment on the Kennedy conniption.
I’m surprised at Michelle Obama’s awful ensemble. It is a yellow-greenish sequined affair that makes her skin look like old cheese. Not very flattering.
To Barbara’s sartorial comment: If it’s a cold, wintry day, I say dress for the weather. Draping yourself in flimsy fabric on a bitterly frigid day makes one look like a high-school girl trying to show skin.
(Update V Jan. 21): First Lady Michelle Obama’s evening gown was only slightly better than the lime number. She should have gone with a veteran, big-name designer. The white tunic resembled a curtain with bulky tussles, and did not flatter her well-toned figure. An off-the-shoulders garment is not the best fit for a woman with such a wide, amazon-like build.
As for Rev. Joseph Lowery; I’d like to see him tarred and feathered. Here’s his coruscating attack on white folks, delivered in childish, churlish prose:
“Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around – when yellow will be mellow – when the red man can get ahead, man – and when white will embrace what is right.” …
F-ck you too, Lowery!
Update VI (Jan. 21): Jill Biden’s inaugural gown was lovely. I don’t much like red, but the lines of this frock are rather nice.