Inaugural Invocation

The last paragraph....I didn't realize we had travelled so far back in time.  Either that or it is part of an MLK speech from another time:

It is a reference to statements that used to be made back in the day.  Black stay back, ect.  he was flipping it.  I supposed if you had never heard the other statements than it may seem a little off putting, but for some of us who have heard the negative version several times, it came off a little differently than "going back in time." 

This benediction has been bothering me ever since it was read.  Electing our nation's first black president representing how far we have come and then to still be lectured about the black being told to get in back is just rediculous.  For the white to embrace what it right.  What does that mean? Yes I know the statements roots but why was it even necessary?  It tells me that moving closer to equality is not enough - it's almost as if we have to go beyond equality to bring retribution for our nation's history.

Statements like this make me think that racisim is alive and well in our country, just not from its tratitional sources.

The statement was correct.  For example, GWB was the 43rd President of the US, but he served the 54th and 55th terms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States

nm...I get it now.

I would thin Native Americans would be incensed at being called the Red Man

Meh, I didn't have a problem with it once I heard it on the radio.  I am not black, nor have I ever been in a black evangelical church, but it sort of had that feel to it.  I suppose it is more of an "inside joke" for African Americans, one comment I heard was that those in the crowd that had heard it before gave a knowing chuckle when it started.

ETA - I do not think that Pres. Obama's previous pastor and his words fall into this category.

I don't think it was, or was intended to be, mean spirited or racist.

Yes, we should be judged not by the color of our skin, but there is more to why this was a popular inauguration than those that wanted Bush out.  Can't deny that the color of President Obama's skin is, in fact, historically relevant

Um, not if you're Jewish, it ain't.

I did dig how he said the "Sh'ma," albeit in English - "hear, oh Israel..." - that part.  Kinda cool, even for a non-practicing Jew like me.  I mean, I had the uniform and all, but coach never played me....

My husband had a real problem with this ^ last paragraph. He didn't think it was funny at all, he thinks it's racist. He takes issue with white males existing as the only UN-protected class (discrimination by default because every other class IS protected). 

I let it go 'cause the man is 87, he's seen everything, it's a throw back from another time, and yet I still thought it inappropriate at the inauguration of the first black president.