The simplest of tasks

Call me a stickler for the rules, but this is the kind of analysis I was suprised not to see more of on CNN, BCC, Sky et al in the immediate aftermath of Obama's inauguration. OK so the inauguration speech was suitably and predictably strong in tone, chock full of rhetoric and grandiose statements (lots of pleas to a divine being, looking forward to "new horizons", patriotism galore).

But wasn't it more interesting that the US Supreme Court Chief Justice - the most senior judge in the land - had but one job, which was to feed to Obama the 35 word Presidential oath that presumably both of them had privately rehearsed many times in preparation for the big moment. And he messed it up. Clearly it threw Obama off, and has resulted in the TV networks having to do some hasty editing when replaying the moment - CNN skip over the embarrasing bit, but the moment when America's first African American president took the oath of office is now forever confined to history as an event of great political and cultural significance poorly executed.

The Chief Justice was of course a Bush nominee, and the first ever Chief Justice delivering the oath of office to a President who previously voted against his appointment. One wonders whether this a last final Bushism, delivered by proxy?

The Eve of a New Dawn?

Exactly one year ago today, I noted this. Clearly the past links to Wokingham (and the presence of a grandmother in Bracknell) have proved a good omen as Barack Obama prepares to take the oath of office to become the 44th President of the United States tomorrow. The newspapers are full of comment, opinion, advice, even continued disbelief at the fact that American has finally elected itself its first black President (even if he is, in truth, just as much white as he is black - but don't let that rain on the parade).

I will watch the inauguration tomorrow. Albeit from the warmth of my house in Dubai rather than the National Mall in Washington. One wonders what length of honeymoon period he will be afforded. The economy, the Middle East (Gaza/Israel, Afghanistan and Iraq) are the hot topics. Inevitably, the seachange that everyone is expecting will not generate immediate results. But somehow, despite the depressing state of the world today, that doesn't seem to matter too much. I can't help but wonder what it must feel like to be one man upon whom the hopes and expectations of, effectively, the entire world rest. You wonder what you would be feeling in such circumstances....

We may be half a world apart, different nationalities, different backgrounds and skin colours, but I was pleased to learn that I have at least one thing in common with the new President - the tragic inability to be without one's blackberry!