Tuesday, January 20, 2009

I'M SURE lots of people loved Obama's speech, but I found it a little arrogant and suffering of Adamism, as if he was the first legitimate president of the US and nothing before him really counted. I don't dislike him, but I find the fawning adoration from the masses a but unsettling. If it wasn't in the US, with a system of checks and balances, it would be creepy. It's not Obama what worries me (at least not yet, he definitely deserves the benefit of the doubt); it's his worshippers. Including most notably the media, which one would expect to get its healthy skepticism towards power back. At least a bit.

One small detail that I found telling. After his speech, Obama turned to Bush and they hugged. Then immediately, Bush's look was totally different. You could tell he knew he was not the most powerful man in the world anymore. He looked at the new President with respect. He even bowed his head at him.

I think this shows that, like him or not, he saw the office as something that trascended him. He was holding it to serve the country and follow through his principles --which may explain at least partially why he took so many impopular policies--.

I have to say, by contrast, that Obama, at least prior to the speech as he was approaching the dais, looked as if he was about to be handed what legitimately belonged to him; that cosmic justice was about to be done.

I hope I'm wrong.