Inauguration Notes, Volume 1

I was seated at my desk at the small upstate New York newspaper I worked for in January 2005, when something caught my attention.

It wasn't anything on my already-crowded desk, but something I saw on television. As in most newsrooms, the tv was always on, but I was certain there'd never been images like what I was seeing on screen before.

As the camera panned back and forth between two people, it at first seemed like a tennis match. But it was actually a confirmation hearing. Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, was posing a question to Condoleeza Rice, President Bush's choice to be his second term Secretary of State.

Never before had I seen a black Senator asking a question of a black, prospective Cabinet appointee.

In a few days, the world will again witness something it's never seen before...
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It was announced a couple of weeks ago that Aretha Franklin would be performing at the inauguration of Barack Obama, and I couldn't help but smile.

Aside from all the awards and what not, she is truly a musical genius, and was recently crowned by her peers as the greatest singer of the rock era in a Rolling Stone cover story.

Now I don't often agree with Rolling Stone, but their consensus confirmed something I long believed. Aretha is not someone to simply compare with other great female singers, but with male singers as well. She can give it to you nice and rough, or sing with softness and clarity.

When I saw her perform last year, I was impressed that she still has the ability to turn a simple phrase into something spectuactular.
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Also announced was that Rick Warren would give the invocation at the inauguration.

Warren, the pastor of a California mega-church, is known to millions as the author of a bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life.

He is also best known to gays and lesbians an opponent of same-sex marriage.

His selection to lead the invocation is not one that I agree with. But it is far more troubling because it does not reflect Barack Obama's stated views which favor civil unions for same-sex couples.

Photos: Google Images