Rev. Lowery nails it...and Rick Warren besides!

I was one of those unfortunate souls not able to be present in D.C. today for the modern-day miracle of Barack Obama's inauguration as our 44th (and first black) President. And this was in part a blessing, as I was not forced to sit through Pastor Rick Warren's invocation and fume that a man who helped pass the atrocity that is Proposition 8 in California was even considered to be a part of this ceremony. I had to settle for listening to part of Obama's inaugural address on radio after lunch in the office, where today was just another workday (except for the black workers in back who cheered watching a TV brought in for the occasion).

But I finally got home and started watching the remaining coverage of the inaugural parade (and man, does this brother have guts to go on foot down the parade route, massive security or no!), looked at the text of Obama's address on several of my friends' pages (not as inspirational as I know he's capable of, but he did hit all the right notes, even to including us non-believers), and found the benediction given following his swearing-in (a bit after 12 noon; were we actually leaderless for a quarter hour or so? And if he's not sworn in by noon, is he legally President? Just wondering...). This closing prayer was given by Atlanta's own Rev. Joseph Lowrey, lieutenant to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and icon of the African-American civil-rights movement.

He started out unpromisingly; his speech seemed slurred and weak with the effects of age, sad to say. But as he got going, his voice got clearer and stronger, and his words were a pointed rebuke to Warren and his ilk even as they uplifted and included all those who have been afflicted and excluded these last eight years. Suffice to say, he hit this one out of the goddamned park and clear on out to the Moon. Read for yourself; the text is here, and a video of the benediction itself is here.

As he finished in classic gospel-preacher style, with "Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen!" and the crowd complied, then "Say Amen!" again and one more thundering "And AMEN!!" I found myself pumping my fist and yelling, "YES!! FUCKING A JOHN BUBBA!" Cynthia Tucker, you were abso-damned-lutely right; I shouldn't have worried.

Thank you so very much, Reverend Lowrey. And take that, Pastor Warren and all the rest of you homophobic Christianist bastards! Tomorrow, the work begins, and Obama has to live up to the hope...and the hype. (And you will be hearing more from me about that then.) Nonetheless, today a new era—for our nation and the world—has gotten off to a very auspicious start, and I rejoice to be American and alive today.

At long, long last, it really is morning in America...maybe

Today was marred only by the news of Sen. Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy's collapse from a seizure, during a luncheon held today as part of the inaugural festivities. I can understand his wanting to be present for history he himself helped to make; and I wish him a speedy and full recovery.

And praise be to all the gods and goddesses that ever were, are or will be, Junior Bush actually did leave and not decide to top his previous bird-flips at the Constitution by declaring himself President for Life and barricading himself in the Oval Office, a possibility I still feared right up to the very last moment. (All you folks who thought me a fool to worry about this may now feel free to say, "I told you so"—though you must admit, at times he did seem just crazy enough.) But it's finally, finally over; he vacated office of his own accord, doing the right thing for once in his misbegotten life, and went home to Texas on schedule. And his puppet-master, Darth Cheney, had to be hauled out of D.C. in a wheelchair—karmic payback if ever I saw it. And Obama actually made it through the oath and all the way to the White House without getting shot by some racist lunatic with a high-powered rifle, something else I feared.

Now I can only pray that one day very soon, these two get meted some sort of real justice for the crimes they and their minions have committed since this date in 2001: against our laws, against our liberties, against helpless people here and worldwide. And Bush's now-safely-sworn-in successor will hear from me about that tomorrow. But for now, the worst president in this country's history (and I feel absolutely certain posterity will back me up on this...not to mention the shade of Dick Nixon, the previous titleholder) is now history himself. And we can begin cleaning up the gigantic mess he and his made.

Odds are, Barack Obama won't be the liberal messiah I was hoping for in the election just ended. But he's a Democrat, he's intelligent and he was, beyond question, legitimately elected...which puts him three very big strikes ahead of the man he's replacing from the git-go.