Tag: barack obama

Inauguration Day 2009 Around The Web

Did you miss the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama earlier today? Don’t worry, there are tons of resources online for you to check out. Here are some of my favorites, starting with this incredible image:

CNN was making a big deal out of this satellite image all day. Fortunately, BoingBoing posted a link to it this afternoon. Zoom in and check it out!

The most anticipated part of the day was probably President Obama’s Inaugural Address. The complete transcript is available here, and you can watch the video at CNN (or below).

Above is a word cloud of Obama’s speech, courtesy of ReadWriteWeb and Wordle.net. They compare it to the inaugural speeches of Bush, Clinton, Reagan, and Lincoln too.

Here’s the oath and inaugural address, courtesy of CSPAN:

You’ll notice the oath didn’t quite go as planned but Talking Points Memo points out that Obama didn’t mess it up, Roberts did:

Roberts started the oath. Obama went a little more quickly than he’d anticipated. And then in the second stage of the oath Roberts got the words wrong. Instead of "I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States" he said "I will execute the office of President of the United States faithfully …"

There was a moment of awkwardness, but they eventually sorted it out. The swearing in is just a formality anyway – Barack Obama became President at noon EST even before he had taken the oath (they were slightly behind schedule).

Here are some other great links:

Know of any others? Let me know.

Finally it’s a reality – Barack Obama is President! Now the real work begins. I hope he’s ready.

Tracking the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama online

The 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama is now just a few hours away! At 8am MST (10am EST) the program will begin, and by about 10am MST (noon EST) the oath of office and inaugural address should be underway at the United States Capitol. Two million people are expected to attend the event, with millions more following along remotely. I’ll be one of the many people using the web to keep an eye on things. Here’s how I plan to do it:

TechCrunch has a few more resources in their Guide to the Inauguration. Lifehacker also wrote a Guide to Catching the Inauguration from Anywhere.

Make no mistake about it, Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration is a big deal. The cellphone carriers are bracing for a flood of mobile traffic, and have spent millions of dollars to upgrade their networks in Washington. Antivirus vendors are also preparing for the event – a large amount of inauguration-related spam and malware is expected. Curiously, the most popular search requests are related to Beyonce, who will be performing for Barack and Michelle’s first dance at the inauguration ball.

Need a blast from the past? Read about previous inaugurations at Wikipedia, or watch the videos.

Finally, keep an eye on Whitehouse.gov. At exactly one minute after noon (EST) the new website will launch. As the AFP’s headline states: Change.gov is coming to the White House!

Anything else I’ve missed? Let me know!

UPDATE: Here are a few more resources: National Post liveblog, CNN & Facebook (very cool), Twingly Microblog Search.

Barack Obama wins the election!

I’m so happy that Barack Obama is the president-elect! He will be sworn in on January 20th, 2009. I’m very much looking forward to the governing phase of things, and was glad to hear Obama talk about tonight being just the first step. The real work can now begin.


Photo by Ozier Muhammad, The New York Times

Here’s the story from the New York Times: Racial Barrier Falls as Voters Embrace Call for Change. And from CNN: Obama inspires historic victory.

For more information in the coming days and weeks, be sure to check Wikipedia.

Congratulations Barack Obama!

How I plan to track the election online

barack obama Finally, it’s election time! Tomorrow evening either Barack Obama or John McCain will become the next President of the United States. Like most of you, I’ll be watching the results closely. Exactly four months ago Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, and I hope tomorrow is the day his campaign comes to a victorious end. I’m so excited! And also a little glad that it’ll finally be over, to be honest.

Here are a few of the places I’ll be watching tomorrow:

Know of any great resources I’ve missed? Let me know. Go Obama!

UPDATE: As expected, Mashable has a giant list of election resources. Check it out.

Barack Obama clinches the Democratic nomination

barack obama from cnnI guess to no one’s surprise, Barack Obama tonight clinched the Democratic party nomination and is the presumptive nominee for November’s election. I’m sad for Hillary Clinton, but very impressed by her determination. She ran a superb race, and you have to give her credit for sticking it out until the end. In her speech tonight from New York, she said she was making no decisions. It was definitely not a concession speech. She indicated that she’ll do whatever is in the best interests of the party.

“This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight,” she said.

Clinton said she would meet with supporters and party leaders in the coming days to determine her next steps.

I’m really not sure if she’s interested in being Obama’s running mate or not.

Assuming nothing crazy happens between now and Denver, Barack Obama will be the democratic nominee. That means I want him to win in the general election. I worry that he’s a weaker candidate against McCain than Hillary would have been, however. I know he can give a speech like no one else, but you need to do more than that to become President.

I really hope that Obama’s win tonight doesn’t mean a loss for the Democrats come November.

Read: CNN

Barack Obama on Monday Night Football

Post ImageI love American politics. With less than two years to go until the next President is elected, things are starting to get very interesting indeed. Last night democratic Senator Barack Obama, a potential candidate for the presidency, had some fun with a little announcement on ESPN’s Monday Night Football:

In a teasing news release, his office said Monday afternoon that Obama would make an “announcement” before the game “about an upcoming contest of great importance to the American people.”

You can see the video clip from last night’s broadcast at YouTube. Pretty darn funny!

Don’t be surprised if you hear more about America’s “revolutionary choice” for President – the black Senator or the female Senator (Hillary Clinton) – over the next few months. Both are expected to announce whether or not they are running early next year. Hillary is widely seen as the early front-runner, though the Daily Kos says If Obama runs, he wins.

Also from Kos – Obama can afford to wait on Hillary, and Gore can afford to wait on everyone. Wouldn’t that be something! If Al Gore eventually decides to run (he has usually left the door open for this) he’ll win hands down.

Assuming Gore doesn’t run, I’d like to see Hillary Clinton win.