Hypocricy and History

I don't want to be negative during this historic time. I am glad that Obama is our president mostly because of his optimism. I admire the way he looks at the world and helps people to understand that we have been through rougher times. We have been split between North and South, suffered race riots and a Great Depression. We are experiencing tough times but we have had it worse. I think that his ability to get a message accross is something that we have been sorely lacking for the past 8 years. We have needed a leader who can communicate not only with world leaders but with the American public.

However I had one of those moments this weekend where I started to think...Am I the only one thinking this? I am conflicted. On one hand I want to celebrate with the world that this man has been elected and that we have come full circle and done what seemed unimaginable only two years ago. We have elected an African American president. A country that not too many generations ago built it's fortune on the slave labor of that same race. This is incredible. I want to celebrate it. But I don't want to pay for it. I have been blown away by how elaborate this celebration is and that nobody has even batted an eyelash over the cost and wondered if maybe this is inappropriate considering our current situation as a union.

So I did a little research to see if I could come up with some numbers. Maybe it is not as costly as it seems. However it was hard to come up with any actual articles from regular news sources. Most of what I gathered came from other blogs. But from what I gather Obama's inauguration will cost about as much as Bush's second inauguration. About 40-50 million dollars.

One problem I have is that there is not any reliable information reporting this sort of thing. Isn't this important? Who is paying for this? Am I? Is it from private sources, fundraising? I am ignorant. But not blissfully so.

I don't know about you but when I was a teenager and was sick on a Friday during school, I didn't get to go to the football game or the homecoming dance that weekend. We are a sick country, bleeding money, hemorrhaging, feverish. We shouldn't have gone to the ball in 2005 and we definately shouldn't be now.

I am hoping to put aside my cynical nature and enjoy this historic time. It isn't really fair that Obama should not be able to have a celebration for this amazing achievement. I just don't think it is fair that the same press that chided Bush for his extravagance in 2005 and lambasted our financial institutions for having Christmas parties on our dime in 2008 has not expressed one bit of concern about the lavishness of this event.

I am trying to resurect my hopefulness and not be such a curmudgeon. However I am concerned that we are so enamored by our date to homecoming that we will feign health in order to go to the dance.