Binary Impact

Obama Forgot His Line and No One Cared [An Interesting Observation]

Posted by Mavrik | Filed under ZOMG

First off, let me say that the speech was great and Obama will probably go down in history as a great speaker. Honestly, if the guy told me about the most boring subject, I find it hard to believe that even then I would not be inspired. It is this “awesomeness” that he emanates that led me to come to an interesting realization today.

Today, I, like many other Americans, watched the inaugural speech live. I even cut class to go to the med school union where a large group of people had gathered and I was even on the fence about him during most of the election campaign. There were so many people, both faculty and students, present that many of us had to stand and look over each other’s shoulders to see the speech. This was the first thing that struck me. Had things gotten this bad that so many people were worried for the future of our nation and were eagerly awaiting to hear what Obama had to say? Or was it simply the fact that an African American man was entering the most powerful position on Earth? Maybe a little of both? I’m guessing for the students in my university that many of us were there to be a part of history, to see it first hand as it unfolded before us. Can you believe that just 55 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. had given his “I Have a Dream” speech? Here we are today. Wow. Is that not inspiring in itself?

Before I get too far off the point of this post, I need to direct your attention to the reason I am writing this: my realization. When Obama walked up to the podium to give his first oath as president, I’m sure he was nervous. How could he not be? He was about to make history and whether he does a good job or not as president, he will be remembered as long as history books are being printed. So no doubt he was a little anxious and made a few mistakes while repeating the oath: once by speaking too early and another when he forgot his line. It was when he forgot his line that many of us laughed.

It was at this moment that I had my realization. What became clear to me when Obama leaned forward to hear the line again was that we were not laughing at him, we were laughing with him. Think about that for a second. We’ve just come off of an 8 year period of people laughing at the expense of our president and now we have come to this. We were laughing with him.

Now this says a lot of things about both us as U.S. citizens and Barack Obama himself. No matter which way you voted, many of us believe in this guy to get us out of the hole we are currently in. Some people even go as far as to see him as a messiah (and with PR campaign pictures like the ones below, who could blame them?). Now, I’m sure Obama will get a little zinger on SNL this weekend and he will most likely be ridiculed throughout his presidency by conservatives, but the fact remains that he is very well respected both in this country and around the world. Whether you think he’ll reach the goals he has set as president or not he serves as a beacon of hope that many of us, whether we like to admit it or not, find appealing. It is for this reason that we laughed with him because as Obama has emphasized countless times, “we are in this together.”

Tags: IMO, Inauguration, Obama, Politics