Smiling and Nodding
This pretty much sums up my opinion on the never-ending inauguration:
It’s a bit hard to stomach a tidal wave of public opinion, manifesting itself in office inauguration parties that involve live projected video feeds set up in the break room and business coming to a standstill in gas station convenience stores while everyone stares enraptured at the TV. It’s particularly troublesome when it’s public opinion that runs counter to one’s own, which one reveals only at the peril of one’s social standing, even when the tenor turns to jeers and catcalls at the departing figurehead and an increasingly impassioned clamor for him and his cronies not to make it to their helicopter alive, or at least not to escape their destined Old West tribunal justice. Lotta smiling and nodding.
Yes, we had an office “simulcast” of the inauguration. And yes, I’ve been trapped in meetings where the topic of conversation turned to our “amazing” new President-to-be. And when it’s assumed that everyone in attendance is similarly enraptured by our fresh leader, the veil drops and the crazy comes out.
Oh, the crazy comes out.
And then the nodding and forced smiles begin.
Well I’m glad that’s all over. Now we can get to the business at hand.
If you’re still with me, head over to “PolitiFact.com” and view the Obama Promise Tracker. A list of 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign, and the current status of each. At the time of this posting, 6 have been “kept”, 1 is stalled, 14 are in the works, and 489 are tucked in the “No Action” bucket.
Interesting that he’s frozen the salaries of White House staffers, but he still hasn’t gotten his daughters that puppy (Promise #502.)


Comments On This Article
Sheesh Bill, you might want to give him a couple more days before holding his feet to the fire, don’t you think?
If the Seahawks pick up a new draft pick or a new coach, do you judge their prospects after one game, or worse yet, one practice? If you have specific objections, I’d love to hear them, but I’d advise taking a bit of a “wait and see” attitude before getting too anxious about keeping “promises”.
I understand the consternation at being forced to be around people who are much more excited about the prospects than you are. He wasn’t your guy, so that must be pretty annoying. Still, try to ignore what the public thinks and judge by your own criteria (which I’m sure you will). Nothing wrong with that. It’s kind of like deciding to like or dislike a piece of music or a movie based on how popular it is or isn’t, and how much that bugs you – that’s not really what matters.
I’ll be curious to see what you think after the beloved first 100 days.
Holding his feet to the fire over what, the puppy?
I don’t think I’ve been critical publicly over anything he’s done. I’m critical of the fawning media and the sobbing, crying, emo fanboys and girls.
I can also do without Katie Couric breaking in during the halftimes of NFL playoff games with breathless updates of his every move.
Ok, those things I understand.
Wasn’t sure if you were expecting, say, 100 of his 500 “promises” to be fulfilled already…yes, the fawning media is annoying, even to those of us who are happy Obama was elected. But aren’t they annoying over pretty much everything?
My solution: I get my news from Fark.com, and pundit commentary from their forum threads.
Where was all of this “accountability” from 2000-2008?
You have GWB, and the “Free Pass” that you personally gave him during his tenure to thank for Obama getting elected.
You would appear more credible if you had held GWB to any standards. But, sadly, you did not.
I’ve not criticized anything our dear leader has done yet.
Take a deep breath. Read, think, THEN react.
Dr. Evil is out of office, and the messiah is ensconced. You can sleep soundly now. /eyeroll.
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