Inauguration

Anyone reading this has already read more than they would like to about the inauguration so I'll keep it short.

I felt honoured to be a part of such an important day. Partly to witness the peaceful transfer of power (I'm floored by the very concept) in all its pomp and glory, and partly to celebrate Obama the man and the phenomenon. I told my girlfriend Britta the night of his election (overtaken by emotion) that if I were to dream up the perfect person to lead the US, that person would be Obama: his political views, background, internationalism, temper, intelligence and pragmatism. Time has tempered that but other than for a few issues (trade is a big one) I still think he's close to that perfect leader. Ok, enough with the weepy bit.

For all its inclusiveness and Wow-there-are-black-people-on-the-Mall, the inauguration was impressive mostly for its scale. Obama's speech was good, but not the kind to get a crowd emotional, not the kind make a song of. The selling of paraphernalia was surprising mostly for its tackiness. My favourite was a painting of a dozen black men on horses, Obama leading the charge. The rest included Tupac, Mandela, Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali. Epic.

My pictures of the inauguration, on flickr.

(Whew, so that's over. Now I can to write about other topics! Thanks for your patience Ari and Jacob.)

Americans on Guantanamo

Gallup released the surprising results of a poll that asked Americans if Guantanamo Bay should be closed down. Apparently most Americans with an opinion on the matter think that it should stay open. President Obama, on the other hand, never made a secret of what he intends to do with the prison and it looks like he has already started the process of shutting it down.


Of course, polls are tricky because each person reads the question differently. "Should the US government close Guantanamo Bay," to some sounds like: "should Obama attempt to right the wrongs of the Bush administration by closing that lawless house of torture." To others: "should the US release a bunch of crazed terrorists hell-bent on killing you and your family?" Still, I'd like to see more of Obama's positions put to a poll. His stance on Guantanamo Bay was no small thing during the election and it would be an interesting discussion to tease out just what Americans voted for in November.

Obamicon

As we all know, Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama poster has been a huge part of the Obama phenomenon. An independent act of art, not commissioned by Obama or his campaign, but a simple, powerful tribute to the hope the new leader would bring.

The Fairey poster's power came from, in my opinion, three elements:
1) The simplified picture of Obama looking forward (and slightly upwards) to the future
2) The Colour scheme - red, blue, light blue, and cream/white
3) The powerful, simple four-letter message on the bottom: HOPE

Actually, there are four versions of the poster that I'm aware of: "HOPE", "CHANGE", "PROGRESS", and "OBAMA". "HOPE" has proven to be, by far, the most popular, neatly summarizing in four little letters the aspirations of a generation.

On Jan. 20th, not only will Obama rise to the occasion in his inaguration, but Fairey's iconic Obama poster will become part of the permanent collection at the American National Portrait Gallery. As far as a portrait in the US goes, that's pretty much as good as it gets. And oh yeah, if you want a limited edition copy of an original Fairey print from ebay, be prepared to empty your wallet a little (on a lighter note high quality knock-offs are, as always, going for much cheaper).

That said, you can get in on making your own iconic Obama image here, at Obamicon, "a bit of post-election fun by Paste magazine." It works better with some pictures than others, but give it a shot. If you ever become president (or Prime Minister) you should definitely have a picture of you with a poster totally calling it. Hey, we can all hope, can't we?

20 miles from Camp David

After setting out at 4am and gradually progressing towards the tropical climes of not Canada, we made it to Myersville, MD, by dinner time. The trip involved me losing my passport, Josh finding it (on the floor of the trunk, wtf?), reading the last few issues of The Economist, lunch at Arby's and an excursion into a Super WalMart in search of an iPod-to-car cable. This allowed us to fully indulge in the playlist I carefully constructed based on the Internet's knowledge of Barack's music taste. Ok, well actually it was just a collection of albums I figured he liked based on a quick google search. Turns out Stevie Wonder makes great roadtrip music. Incidentally, walking into a Super WalMart was a life-changing experience. Calling it immense is not doing it justice. You could feed, clothe and entertain a town for weeks with its supplies. The rows of products were endless. I could just imagine walking into it coming from a poor country and fainting. Numerous times. It was spectacular.

We were welcomed to Maryland with an amazing meal by Britta's mother and step-father. Her mother then got us all to play the Wii Fit. Holy jeez, my eyes have been opened. That is a whole other post.

Tomorrow we go into DC and wreak havoc! I mean we get to see museums and memorials! Can't wait.

(As per the post title, we're close to Camp David, where Bush is currently. One last vacation. The jets we heard overhead fly whenever he's there I'm told.)

Obamauguration 09!

I'm driving to DC with friends Saturday. I'll do my best to blog the trip and the inauguration. Any requests as to what I should write about?

And thanks for having me along Jacob!

(photo of His Changeness from change.gov)