inauguration

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Florida GOPer Resigns After Tasteless Katrina Joke

Resigns after email mocking trapped "blacks"

(Newser) - Carol Carter, a Florida Republican committeewoman, isn’t racist. It’s just that she likes Katrina jokes. So much that she emailed this one around last week: “How can 2,000,000 blacks get into Washington, DC in 1 day in sub zero temps when 200,000 couldn't get...

Obama Approval Drops to 68%
 Obama Approval 
 Drops to 68% 
Jan 24, 2009 4:41 PM CST

Obama Approval Drops to 68%

(Newser) - President Obama's poll numbers are sinking back into the stratosphere now that he's in office, Politico reports. The first Gallup poll since his inauguration gives Obama a 68% approval rating, down from 83% a week ago. Just 12% of the most recent sample disapproved of Obama. JFK holds the record...

Everyone Wants Aretha's Hat
 Everyone Wants 
 Aretha's Hat 
Jan 23, 2009 8:31 AM CST

Everyone Wants Aretha's Hat

(Newser) - Aretha Franklin’s inauguration hat has been mercilessly mocked by some, but lots of people want one of their very own. The Detroit millinery where Franklin has been a customer for 20 years has been flooded with calls for orders, the AP reports. But Aretha wannabes soon learn that the...

Not Everyone 'Fawning' Over Prez Obama

Tongue-in-cheek column mocks critics

(Newser) - You might be euphoric after Barack Obama’s inauguration, but “not everyone feels the ‘Obama high,’” writes Lloyd Garver on the Huffington Post. These “Democrat-haters” who “enjoy puncturing balloons of hope” probably viewed Inauguration Day through slightly less rose-colored glasses than you did: For...

'Tunnel People' Get Probe of Inaugural Ticket Mess

Thousands waited in tunnel; Feinstein apologizes

(Newser) - As President Obama’s inauguration approached, thousands of would-be spectators got stuck in an immobile line that stretched into a tunnel beneath the National Mall. And there they waited, for hours, missing the ceremony despite their tickets. With their plight getting more publicity—yep, there's now a Facebook group—Sen....

Yo-Yo Ma 'Finger-Synched' Inauguration Gig

Performers decided to play along to tape in 'wicked cold'

(Newser) - The somber classical sounds that filled the Washington Mall ahead of Barack Obama's swearing-in came from a tape, reports the New York Times. When Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and the rest of the quartet realized that the freezing weather and strong winds would likely wreak havoc with their instruments they...

After Historic Day, Historic Cleanup

Trash-bin shortage caused tons of litter to pile up

(Newser) - Crews working into the wee hours hauled away at least 130 tons of garbage after America’s largest, and messiest, outdoor bash Tuesday, the Washington Post reports. With trashcans removed for security precautions, inauguration attendees littered the National Mall, leaving it looking like a rendition of Disney's Wall-E. Obama gear,...

Absence at Oath Re-Do Not Matter of Biblical Proportion

Chattering class sure to run with Obama's omission, though it's a perfectly legal one

(Newser) - Huge news out of Washington: Barack Obama didn’t use a Bible when he re-took the oath of office! Is he really the president? Well, yes, says Alex Koppelman of Salon. “Legally, the president can be sworn in on a copy of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue ...

Obama Grabs Highest TV Ratings Since Reagan

Web audience sends numbers skyrocketing

(Newser) - Barack Obama's inauguration was the most-watched ever but it failed to set a TV ratings record, USA Today reports. Neilsen estimates 37.8 million television viewers tuned in for the ceremony, while 41.8 million watched Ronald Reagan's 1981 inauguration. But internet viewership broke records and sent figures through the...

'Just to Be Safe,' Obama Should Redo Oath: Experts

Lawyers advise he retake fudged oath to avoid controversy

(Newser) - OK, it's probably not going to come up in court, but some constitutional lawyers tell the San Francisco Chronicle that Barack Obama should retake his flubbed oath just to be on the safe side. Presidents Coolidge and Arthur did after similar gaffes. It "would take him 30 seconds, he...

China Censors Obama Speech
 China Censors 
 Obama Speech 
Jan 21, 2009 4:00 PM CST

China Censors Obama Speech

President's inclusion of communism as defeated ideology irks government

(Newser) - Chinese censors clipped parts of Barack Obama’s inaugural address from yesterday’s live telecast, including his message for the world’s despots, the New York Times reports. The streaming audio translation was muted after Obama said “communism” in a sentence about using alliances and enduring conviction to defeat...

Inauguration Boosts Newspapers, for a Day

Customers line up to nab front pages covering historic day

(Newser) - The newspaper industry might be in its death throes, but it briefly jolted to life this morning as long lines of people waited at newsstands for souvenir copies of front pages that hailed the inauguration of America’s first black president, the AP reports. In Washington, some editions of the...

Sports World Full of Obama Fans
 Sports World 
 Full of Obama Fans 
OPINION
Jan 21, 2009 12:28 PM CST

Sports World Full of Obama Fans

Usually politically quiet, sports stars come out in favor of new prez

(Newser) - Barack Obama's powers of inspiration and unification reach beyond the political world: "All around the country, athletes responded to the new president," Gwen Knapp writes for the San Francisco Chronicle. The inauguration sparked tears from big men who take physical punishment for a living, and Obama's rise has...

Kennedy Leaves Hospital
 Kennedy Leaves Hospital 
Jan 21, 2009 12:06 PM CST

Kennedy Leaves Hospital

Docs want Mass. senator, 76, to cut back on work

(Newser) - Ted Kennedy was released today from the Washington hospital where he was sent yesterday after suffering a seizure during Congress’ inaugural lunch with President Obama. The 76-year-old Massachusetts senator was back “in good spirits” this morning, the Boston Globe reports, but doctors urged him to reduce his workload. Such...

No, We Can't: Meet the Pessimist in Chief

Despite the rhetoric, Obama offers realism, not hope: Finkelstein

(Newser) - Barack Obama, elected on a tide of optimism, insisted yesterday that a new generation could meet the challenges of the age. Yet he described economic crisis and a collective failure of will, with no promise of rebirth or redemption, Times of London columnist Daniel Finkelstein observes. And that may be...

Noonan: A Solid, Sober Beginning
 Noonan: A Solid, 
 Sober Beginning 
OPINION
Jan 21, 2009 10:06 AM CST

Noonan: A Solid, Sober Beginning

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s first speech as president was not “a joyous audacious document, not a call to arms,” writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal, “but a reasoned statement by a Young Sobersides.” That’s not a criticism: Moderate and moderated, Obama’s address...

Lines, Arctic Temps... and a Miracle: Keillor

Writer savors the spirit of goodwill amid throng at inauguration

(Newser) - The lines were "the longest I have ever stood in," and the day was arctic, but there were no complaints to be heard from the jubilant throng in Washington yesterday, Garrison Keillor writes in Salon. "All kinds of people, the slim and sleek, the XXXLs, the heavily...

Amid Clichés, Speech Showed True Insight

New president's speech emphasized how a bright future comes from old traditions

(Newser) - A conservative might have expected President Obama’s inaugural address to feature soaring language masking hackneyed ideas. Funny thing, writes Michael Gerson in the Washington Post: It was just the opposite. "It is simply mysterious how such tired language could sound appropriate to the ear of Obama the writer,...

Writers Hail Message From a 'Prince'

Inaugural address praised as masterful use of language

(Newser) - Barack Obama's inaugural address showed a literary mastery of language, assorted authors tell the Los Angeles Times. The president's plain speaking and restraint is commended, along with his use of "we" instead of "I." Author Ted Wilmer hails the president's use of "tight language, short sentences...

Kennedy Going Home Tomorrow
Kennedy
Going Home Tomorrow
Jan 20, 2009 7:42 PM CST

Kennedy Going Home Tomorrow

Senator's seizure probably caused by fatigue, doctor says

(Newser) - Ted Kennedy continues to do well after today's seizure and will be released from the hospital tomorrow morning after a night of observation, the Boston Globe reports. His collapse was probably caused by “simple fatigue,” a doctor said. He is surrounded by family at a Washington hospital after...

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