21 January 2009

You Stay Classy, Obama Fans

Let's go on a little trip down memory lane, shall we? We'll go back to election night of 2008, and the acceptance speech of Barack Obama.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
Obama asked the citizens of this nation to move forward, not to be petty and immature, and to heal the divides amongst us. For those who had supported and voted for Obama, this should have been a relatively simple task. Their candidate had just won, and they were elated in the thrill and historical significance of the victory.

It's too bad that the president elect didn't remind his followers to remain magnanimous during the inauguration.

Some in the crowd ... booed the president when the large viewing screens near the World War II Memorial flashed an image of the exiting president arriving at the swearing-in. Moments later, rounds of cheers welled up as the same screens showed the incoming first lady, Michelle Obama, and her two daughters, Sasha and Malia. [...]

After the inauguration ceremony, some in the crowd waved at the aircraft in the sky. Others, however, cheered when they heard a television broadcaster announce, "George Bush is no longer president of the United States." Still others in the crowd, broke into chants of "Na-na-na-nah, hey, hey, hey, goodbye."
Bush continued to conduct himself in a dignified manner; smiling, waving, and acting in a manner appropriate for an outgoing president at his successor's inauguration.

Unfortunately, the Obama fans couldn't bring themselves to act as gracefully on our 44th President's big day. It only took those members of the crowd two-and-a-half months to completely forget the words of their candidate's acceptance speech. They failed to "resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long."

Very classy, Obama fans. I, for one, will remember this.

USMC 9971 OUT

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