Going into the next several celebratory days, I want to put out a call for brief notes explaining what the inauguration means to you. That covers a lot of ground, but intentionally so. You can answer the question in whatever way you like. Obviously we will not be able to publish all of them. But we’ll try to publish a range of different ones over the next few days.
Please try to keep them as brief and concise as possible. Not because there’s anything inherently wrong with going long. But we’ll want to publish as many as possible. And if they run too long that will be difficult.
If you’re interested, send us your thoughts at the comments email linked at the upper right with the subject heading “My Take.”
Maybe time to start looking again at what the Swedes did (warning: long PDF) during their banking crisis in the early 1990s.
Late Update: For more on what I’m talking about and for a possible look just over the horizon, look at this piece in tomorrow’s Post.
From The Times …
President-elect Barack Obama is riding a powerful wave of optimism into the White House, with Americans confident he can turn the economy around but prepared to give him years to deal with the crush of problems he faces starting Tuesday, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.
While hopes for the new president are extraordinarily high, the poll found, expectations for what Mr. Obama will actually be able to accomplish appear to have been tempered by the scale of the nation’s problems at home and abroad.
The findings suggest that Mr. Obama has achieved some success with his effort, which began with his victory speech in Chicago in November, to gird Americans for a slow economic recovery and difficult years ahead after a campaign that generated striking enthusiasm and high hopes for change.
Late Update: As TPM Reader SG points out there’s also this very striking passage …
By contrast, 79 percent were optimistic about the next four years under Mr. Obama, a level of good will for a new chief executive that exceeds that measured for any of the past five incoming presidents. And it cuts across party lines: 58 percent of the respondents who said they voted for Mr. Obama’s opponent in the general election, Senator John McCain of Arizona, said they were optimistic about the country in an Obama administration.
It’s a bit of a flippant way to put it. But I keep marveling at this guy (itals added) …
Meanwhile, the pilot of a crippled US Airways jet liner told investigators that he made a split-second decision to put down in the Hudson River because trying to return to the airport after birds knocked out both engines could have led to a “catastrophic” crash in a populated neighborhood.
Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger said that in the few minutes he had to decide where to set down the powerless plane Thursday afternoon, he felt it was “too low, too slow” and near too many buildings to go anywhere else, according to the National Transportation Safety Board account of his testimony.
…
The pilot said he tried to set down near a boat, to increase the possibility that survivors would be rescued, he told investigators. The aircraft hit close to several popular landings, and rescuers were able to arrive within minutes.
A new set of polls shows Barack Obama enjoying massive approval ahead of his inauguration — and also shows that people really don’t like George W. Bush. That and other political news in today’s Election Central Sunday Roundup.
Our TPMtv crew is in DC covering the inauguration festivities. Here’s their first dispatch:
Elana Schor reports from the scene of this afternoon’s inauguration kick-off concert in DC:
From TPM Reader MH …
I’m 53, from rural Virginia, and remember when black and white people didn’t (wouldn’t, couldn’t) even sit down to eat together, so Obama’s inauguration gives me a new perspective on a big, big part of my life — so *this* is where we were headed, all that time. I wish I had known. At the same time, relief from the shame of the last eight years means relief from a kind of cynicism that was setting in. A student of mine said, “maybe we ARE the Great Satan!”, and I had to wonder if he was right. Now I believe that American can do great things. I don’t remember feeling that way before.
(ed.note: Through Tuesday evening TPM Readers are responding to Saturday’s post asking what Tuesday’s inauguration means to you. To join in, click the link for instructions on how to send in your email.)
Will Farrell is about to reprise his role/impersonation of President Bush in an intermissionless one man show on Broadway. “You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush.”