Am I the only one who finds the whole pomp and circumstance around the presidential inaguaration a little overdone?
My attitude is - You won, congratulations!! Now, get sworn in and get to work (in the case of the incumbent- get back to work).
In the case of the President himself, I tend to agree. However, Inauguration festivities are really about rewarding supporters and letting them celebrate the victory they helped achieve. So let them have their fun –
And besides, I’m happy because they closed off downtown DC, so I got the day off work. Whoo hoo!
yes, it’s a bit overdone. But it is tradition, regardless of party. The US doesn’t have royalty to fawn over. This is the next best thing, if it can be considered a best thing.
jnd,
Yes, it’s terrible to celebrate victory unless you are a Democrat.
JeffR
Overdone? I don’t think so. No more than the Clinton library opening was “overdone.” I enjoyed watching both events. It’s part of our country’s heritage. Besides, whenever republicans and democrats can join together in a common cause, they have my attention and respect.
Does anybody think Kerry’s inauguration would have been any less? All of the complaints I keep hearing are by people who would have been drunk and partying had Kerry won.
I don’t think one big party after 4 years of work is too much, especially when it is a tradition with over 200 years of history.
Well, I’m not in favor of overdoing it, but it is a Presidential inauguration. It should be a celebration, regardless of party. It’s momentous, like a civic holiday.
[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
Well, I’m not in favor of overdoing it, but it is a Presidential inauguration. It should be a celebration, regardless of party. It’s momentous, like a civic holiday.
[/quote]
This is where we disagree. You earned a job- and in the case of an incumbent-you spent time away from the office campaigning. Now it is time to take the trust of the people and put in some real work- not spend an entire week partying.
In the immortal words of your Prez…
It’s hard work!
In the immortal words of SNL…
But it’s hard work, it’s really hard, sometimes we even work Saturday.
Yes, I’m only paraphrasing, I don’t have the transcripts in front of me!
[quote]jnd wrote:
thunderbolt23 wrote:
Well, I’m not in favor of overdoing it, but it is a Presidential inauguration. It should be a celebration, regardless of party. It’s momentous, like a civic holiday.
This is where we disagree. You earned a job- and in the case of an incumbent-you spent time away from the office campaigning. Now it is time to take the trust of the people and put in some real work- not spend an entire week partying.
[/quote]
I agree with TB on this one. The inauguration of the POTUS should be a big deal; personally I like the ceremonial stuff like the “inspection” of the military and such. My problem with inaugurations is that in practice they feel more like a person celebrating victory than a country celebrating democracy. That’s the purpose of the inaugural festivity in my mind. Holding an expensive party at the tax-payer’s expensive for people that donated to your campaign is ridiculous, IMO.
Comparing the inauguration to the opening of a presidential library doesn’t make sense to me either. One is an archive of presidential records and artifacts, the other is money spent on cake and party favors. Both celebrations are in order, but could spare a little of the personal excess.