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Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009
You could learn a lot about the new Bush era from Saturday's inaugural. God and Stetsons? Good. Clinton and taxes? Bad.
Jan 20, 2001 | What did we learn of our new president from his inauguration speech and swearing-in ceremony? Perhaps most obviously, he's not going to be much of a talker. At 14 minutes, George W. Bush gave a swift performance, urging Americans to "make our country more just and generous."
But there were other discoveries, too, including:
1. Big-time Bush supporters, the invited friends with seats and the hard-core ones who braved cold, mud and threatening skies to stand outside the Capitol, love their tax cuts. The president's speech was interrupted with cheers loudly, just once, after his simple promise: "We will reduce taxes."
2. Dick Cheney's middle name is "Bruce."
3. Big-time Bush supporters are white. In this crowd, in the center of a city with one of the largest African-American populations in the country, the faces framed with fur muffs and those ubiquitously bland tan Burberry plaid scarves were overwhelmingly white.
4. They don't like Bill Clinton. When the outgoing president made his first appearance entering the Capitol (on big video screens flanking the podium), a smattering of boos echoed across the grounds.
5. The Bush years won't be good for PETA: By the end of the one-hour ceremony, an outstanding number of women in the crowd looked like water-logged cats. There hasn't been this much matted fur in Washington, D.C. since Robin Williams took a sauna at the Four Seasons.
6. We learned about what could be called "cowboy condoms": those thin, plastic bags Texans roll down over their Stetsons when it rains. ("Safe Tex," anyone?)
