And now, as the excitement builds towards our new administration, who among us has not been gleefully anticipating the moment--the Andrew-Shepherd and Sydney-Ellen-Wade, Jack-and-Susan-Stanton, Josiah-and-Abbey-Bartlett moment--when the statuesque young African-American first couple glides gracefuly around the dance floor, changing in yet another way the way we will look at the leaders of our country, putting the whipped cream, the final flourish on top of the ceremony, pageantry and patriotism of the inauguration?
It promises to be so many things at once--a time of payback for the bitter January pills of 2000 and 2004 when we had to watch the balls on TV and wonder what had gone wrong, a socially-acceptable way to rub our wonderful victory into the Republicans' faces and show the world who we are, an indelible image of how social rituals at the highest levels of our society no longer have racial barriers, a chance to briefly celebrate and congratulate ourselves for the hard work that is behind us before we begin in earnest the hard work that is in front of us.
Here is what I think about the inaugural balls: don't do it.
consider using part of the spotlight that the world will be shining on our stage at this pivotal moment, and mark in a way that even President-Elect Obama's words cannot, by showing, not telling, what real change means, compassion for the less privileged, empathy for those who are struggling in hard economic times, sensitivity to the families of servicepeople, and seriousness of purpose that does not want to celebrate separately from those in our nation who cannot. Remind people that we are not a party that spends on Along with the bands and champagne find a way to pay tribute to the while millions are out of work and troops abroad want for body armor. Send the message that the way to reward supporters is not by having them share a moment of celebrity, but to have them share an evening of sacrifice. What better, more beautiful, more game-changing a gesture could there possibly be, what more brilliant an example of leadership, what more impressive a demonstration that the shining and lovely words we have clung to throughout the long campaign were not platitudes, but promises intended to be kept.
As Jonathan Alter noted of FDR in his recent book The Defining Moment, inaugural balls have been skipped before, perhaps for reasons of the president's health, perhaps for the country's.
None of the staff or reporters who saw him that Sunday noticed that FDR was anything other than his usual convivial self. He had stayed up past one o'clock the previous night talking with Louis Howe, his longtime chief aide and campaign strategist, while Eleanor and their five children attended the Inaugural Ball without him. The crippled president, now fifty-one years old, hadn't wanted to sit passively while everyone else danced; passive was not his style. Besides, he and Howe had important things to discuss, beginning with how to extricate the United States from its gravest crisis since the Civil War.
The abyss of slip-sliding priorities, talking heads, Republican blather, pettiness and divisiveness in already in previews, and officially opens for business on January 21. Let's step across it on a bridge not only of our President-Elect's sure-to-be soaring words and decisions, but also of his actions. We don't need much, just a little reminder of the good and kind and fearless people that we really are.
What actually is done on this night is less important. Turn it into Add some special ingredient to the celebrations. Make it part-soup kitchen night, or used clothes delivery night, or spend a few hours with a military family night, or save some energy night, or all or any of the above. Stick it to the Republicans by reminding America why, above all else, they were defeated, the one thing Palinism, and Rovism, and Bushism all have in common: the elevation of form over substance. There is no stronger argument for making the revolution of the past five days a permanent one.
Update [2008-11-9 13:57:52 by steve234]:
Alright, so I went a little over the top ...
I reread my post and it definitely sounded like I'm in favor of prohibition or something. I'm not. Almost everyone of you guys were right. The man deserves to party--and not just a little but a lot. A significant reason I'm not going to the ball is because I wasn't invited either. Being bold and unafraid is not a bad idea. Carter's low-key inauguration did remind us how crappy we felt. Fun and joy? Sure can use an extra dose of that. Dancing and celebration without being insensitive to the unemployed or the deployed--certainly if anyone is capable of gracefully handling both at the same time, it is the man we just elected. A catharsis after 8 years of living in a police state is just about right. Rewarding the volunteers who got us here, absolutely no question. "Parties...dancing...celebration...victorious without eating cake while Rome burns", put a lot better than I did. "Show them off and be a hope monger"--beautifully put. Hell, even my wife was pissed at my diary, as she is dying to see Michelle's gown. If the 365th electoral vote turning blue hasn't taught me to trust the Obama team's judgment in matters political by now, nothing ever will.
I guess the only thing I was trying somewhat inartfully to say was that this is the most inspired I have felt in many many years. I don't want it to end. The press pushes so hard to turn what has just happened into just another slightly different version of the same old thing. You can already feel it in the early post-election stories. I don't think it is another version of the same old thing. I think it's something different. I want to take every opportunity for the remaining 46.1% of the country to begin to see this as well.
So my point is, that it would be nice if whatever inaugural balls there are truly reflect the exceptional people the Obamas are both in matters of style and taste and in matters of substance, as imaginative and innovative and different as they have been so far and I believe will prove themselves to be. I'll leave the details up to you, and them.