Notes on an Inauguration

-Good speech. Much better than his convention speech, though not quite so affecting as his election-night victory address. My spine felt like Chris Matthews' leg more than once.

-Most Kennedy-esque flourish: "A nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous." Most George W. Bush-esque flourish: "For those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

-Maybe he wore it against his will, but the flag pin on his lapel catching the sunlight was a nice touch.

-The nod to atheists during the passage on America's diverse religious traditions was nice, but "non-believers"? Seems like a word with slightly unfavorable connotations. How about just plain "atheists"? At least he didn't say "infidels."

-Our new president is not much of an ad-libber. I followed along with the pre-provided text and only caught a few very minor instances of deviation. The most significant was changing "hard work and honesty" to "honesty and hard work," which gave the overall sentence a better cadence.

-President Obama's first executive order: firing the cop who used his siren during the oath of office. No wonder he got so tripped up.