Inaugural Ball Blogging

I don't have a thing to wear...

SINCE YOU ASKED:  Yes, color me offended and excluded by Lowery's prayer to

....help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."

Well, Lowery is 87 and has seen a lot, including the probable collapse of the American race-grievance industry.  But this was hardly the sort of post-racial note Obama could have wanted.

BET YOU CAN'T NAME THEM:  A friend points out that Obama and his crack staff of speechwriters had even more trouble with that pesky Presidential oath - Obama's assertion that "Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath" doesn't add up.  Yes, Obama is the forty-fourth President, but Grover Cleveland held both the twenty-second and twenty-fourth spots.  Thus, only forty-three different Americans have taken the oath (See WaPo, AP, CBS).  Well, forty-two after Chief Justice Roberts inadvertently DQ'ed Obama.

Comments

[bad]

You'll fit right in....

[bad]

I'm still waiting to see Jill Biden. Does she have anything to wear?

[bgates]

this was hardly the sort of post-racial note Obama could have wanted.

Like the last guy would have said, you gotta dance with the one that brung ya.

Of course, W never went to a ball with Ray Lewis in drag.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

www.foxnews.com has photos of the Bidens.

[clarice]

I agree with Jonah.
What do you mean you don't have anything to wear,TM? That powder blue tux with the ruffled shirt looks good.

Michelle wore the couch this afternoon and the curtain tonight.

Call Oscar de La Renta or Caroline Herrara pronto,MO. They know about ceremonial dress. Listen to them.

[Jim Ryan]

All I heard was the poem and Rev Lowery. The poem was as bad as they come. If my 15 year old daughter had written it I would have strained to pretend to her that I liked it.

As for Lowery, he said,

Lord...we ask you to help us work for that day...when white will embrace what is right.

Hey, Rev. Lowery, did the orderlies know you were out? Do your grandkids complain that granddad "smells funny"? Just asking.

But it's all good. At least they didn't spoil the celebration of a black man's having dragged himself up from black American poverty and by dint of talent and great personal accomplishments, earned the rank of president. Whenever that day comes, I assume the guy'll choose a good poet and preacher.

[prtymbl]

If that's old school, B&M need some real "old schoolin'" Fred Astaire dance lessons. B seemed to want to dance and Michelle kept goofin on him.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Jill is wearing red.

[bad]

That train is so unfortunate. Footage and pictures will not be kind.

[PD]

From the Jonah Goldberg article Tom links to:

Conservatives who try too hard to belittle the importance of this milestone are foolish on several fronts. First, this is simply a wonderful -- and wonderfully American -- story. Any political movement that is joyless about what this represents risks succumbing to bitter political crankery.

Well, I don't want to belittle the significance of the event. But it simply does not surprise me AT ALL that this country has elected a black person as President. Why should it? This is the US.

What surprises me is all the Obama supporters who say, "I didn't think I would live to see this day." Apparently the people who tell us to get over racism didn't really believe it was possible for us to behave as non-racists. Apparently, they don't really believe in the ideals they're always hitting us over the head with and telling us to believe.

[RichatUF]

Yes a new thread.

Obama has no intention of letting the race-grievance industry die, he'll get them a bailout. Goldberg's editorial was wishful thinking.

[bad]

Thanks Sara!!

[Stephanie]

Repost from previous thread...

I have an old disused blog I could strip out for use. Thre are only a few posts that I would want to preserve. It is on blogger, but any port in a storm?

I have another blog that is disused, too, but it is the number 7 response on google for the Atlanta Courthouse Murders and still gets decent traffic, and the topic periodically reappears in the news.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Bombard TYPEPAD with complaints about the new system. Tom should be able set more comments per page or turn it off. If they haven't built that in to the change, they need to. Big blogs are not going to be happy if they start losing hits and so will their advertisers.

[Porchlight]

I'm afraid this white (white! In January? I ask you) ball dress isn't even pretty, let alone flattering. It's much worse than I thought.

A train that can't be swept up? On a ball gown where one is supposed to dance with quite literally the entire world's eyes on her? It's plain idiotic. Poor woman, no wonder she looks so awkward in these awful clothes.

[bad]

Lowery will get a pass on his racism because of his age. How convenient...

[Porchlight]

Are there any other big Typepad blogs out there dealing with this successfully? I don't want to abandon TM, but I do wish he would at least mention it. The natives are getting restless.

[bgates]

PD, exactly right. I get the strangest looks when I tell people that as the grandchild and husband of transfer students, I experience a vicarious thrill at seeing the first ever college transfer student elected president. Transfer student? Why get worked up about that?

A 15-month campaign, and Barry's only Sister Soljah moment was castigating his invalid grandmother on national tv. If I could invest in race grievance, I would, it's the likeliest growth sector in the new economy.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Via Twitter, Malkin says:

O's illegal alien/deportation fugitive aunt partied hard at DC inaugural balls.

[Stephanie]

There is no way that Lowery, Bond, McKinney, King, Abernethy, or any of them OR THEIR FAMILIES are gonna let their gravy train die out.

I grew up visiting in their homes and they were clients of my dad's and there is no way that is going to be allowed to happen. Pay to play in Atlanta is alive and well, too... which is why they were clients of my dad's and are no longer. He wouldn't pony up the $$ to keep the contracts.

The rot is strong on their vines.

[Elliott]

I think he's working on it.

[Ann]

Sheesh, typepad sucks and the internet crashes on me. Are we being monitored?

Sara, thanks for the pics. I was hoping they had not locked the Biden's up just yet. Let them at least have a last dance.

Clarice,

Call Oscar de La Renta or Caroline Herrara pronto,MO

Really, it's not like she doesn't have transition money.

[Tom Maguire]

Not to be completely clueless here, but what is Typepad doing differently with the comments? I am using Firefox and nothing seems to have changed for me.

[bgates]

I'm afraid this white (white! In January? I ask you) ball dress isn't even pretty, let alone flattering
It's strange. Michelle is usually dead against white.

Lowery will get a pass on his racism because of his age
like Kanye West before him. Because of his age.

[Soylent Red]

Michelle wore the couch this afternoon and the curtain tonight.

Ouch. Just, ouch.

White gown is not flattering whatsoever. But I say that as a white guy who tends toward a certain body style. "Ghetto Booty" is quite popular among most of my black friends I have discussed posteriors with.

[Elliott]

TM,

Pagination. After 50 comments, the comments are broken into multiple pages making the thread far harder to navigate. This thread isn't long enough yet.

[bgates]

TM, go to the last thread. Better yet, click on a "Recent Comment" in the sidebar to try to get to a comment in an earlier thread. You get taken to the first page of comments, and have to click through to the end. It's slower, it's much harder to search, and it's impossible to link to a comment.

(Can't even use preview to see if someone has answered a question already, so I'm probably the 5th person to write this.)

[bad]

Jill Biden looks lovely. She and Joe appear to be able to dance.

[Elliott]

I knew that would happen when I threw in that last sentence.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Well, Tom, so far this thread is not doing IT, but all weekend we've been tortured with having to hit NEXT/PREVIOUS and it has people, including me, pulling their hair out.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Oops spoke too soon. Here we go agaain. It SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!

[Stephanie]

I'm not advocating for moving there, but y'all did ask if anyone had a blog. I don't want to offend our host by poaching his readers. And I don't want to blog long term, either...

[Tom Maguire]

Oh, wait - on the longer threads there is the Next/Previous feature which (I presume) speeds the loading of the initial page but makes a long thread inaccessible. OK, that's ridiculous.

[bgates]

She and Joe appear to be able to dance.
Whaddya think Joe's been doing the past 2 months? Getting briefed?

[Ralph L]

White ball gowns are for young unmarried women.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Stephanie: I don't think you have to worry about poaching. I've been blogging for several years and not once has someone from here commented over there that I know about.

[hit and run]

Now, let me state unequivically that I wouldn't abandon ship for anything. But having said that . . . http://justoneminute.blogspot.com/>there's always...

Oh, and check out the http://justoneminute.blogspot.com/2005/12/back-and-better-than-ever-or-back-in.html?showComment=1134770700000#c113477071632670688>last comment ever left on that blog...

Eerie prescience!

[JM Hanes]

Got left behind, so I'm cross posting. And why do we want to hear what Ron Howard has to say?

Michelle should try hitting up Condi for some fashion advice.

I think Michelle has some real potential, but she's got to fix that tall girl posture. You're always leaning slightly over to talk to shorter women, and you end up galumphing around shoulders first. It's especially awkward when you're wearing heels. The higher they get, the more you've got to practice walking so that your whole foot, ball and heel, hit the ground flat, at the same time with each step. You have to tip slightly backward, because you've got to lift your leg a little higher from the knee to do it that way. Tall women also tend to cross their arms in front of themselves a lot, which can turn a good picture bad.

In fact, both Obamas use a little remedial posture work. I don't think Obama actually realizes when he's walking around with his chin in the air, they way he did in the hall heading out to the podium this morning. It's typical of people who think they're standing straight and tall. If you tell someone to "Stand up straight," the very first thing they'll almost always do is raise their chins -- too high.

There's a reason people used to practice with books on their heads. You can't do it with your chin in the air, you have to hold your head level and straighten up from the spine. My grandmother used to grasp a small clump of hair (by the roots!), right on the crown of our heads, pull it straight up and call it a string to the spine. As you stretch upward from the crown of your head, your chin drops into position, while your shoulders remain relaxed and stay where there they're supposed to be (which is not hunched up). It's a unisex exercise.

Yikes. I think I'm turning into the cathyf of posture instructions! :-)

[Porchlight]

TM, from some quick googling, you may not be able to fix it, either. TypePad has limited comments to 50 per page and this doesn't appear to be changeable in the preferences.

Here's a guy in SC who's been going back and forth with TypePad tech support about it: Brad Warthen's Blog

I think the key is to make a big fuss. This must be one of the larger TypePad blogs, no?

[bad]

Michelle wore the couch this afternoon and the curtain tonight.

I beg to differ, mattress pad is more like it...

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

There's a reason people used to practice with books on their heads.

My Mother made me do this and I think there was a two or three year period where every sentence she spoke to me started with, "stand up straight, stop slouching."

[Rick Ballard]

TM,

TyphusPad has instituted a Next/Previous break at every 25 comments. You can lengthen the page to 50 comments in your blog setup but it does not appear that you can eliminate the Next/Previous break entirely. It's a new mandatory option.

JM Hanes is more familiar with TyphusPad than I - she can fill you in on the "how to" part in making the change.

You may not see the breaks due to your authorization level in the blog software.

If you wish, I'm sure someone here has the capability to set up a blog using software that might well surpass the wonders of TyphusPad.

[PD]

JMH, we want to hear from Ron Howard because he's an important celebrity. Right?

I liked how he said that today's events show that we're a vital democracy. Bet he wasn't saying that about the transition of power 8 years ago. It's boggling how the liberal celebs are singing the praises of the democratic process, now that their boy is in. Has the process changed in the last 8 years?

[Tom Maguire]

Hmm, that non-searchability will drive people crazy. Well, the whole thing will. Apparently I was upgraded to the new platform over the weekend - woo hoo.

[Porchlight]

Yes, JMH - better posture would go a long way. And she needs to dispense with the sleeveless look. Yes, her arms are toned and trim, but her upper arms are really long, and need (imo) some softening with sleeves. Also frankly I don't think a First Lady ought to show all that much skin even if she is young and fit.

[Ralph L]

Jackie used to wear heavily-textured dresses, too, to help camouflage her bowed legs.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

I know, I know, let's all recommend Michelle Obama to "What Not to Wear."

[clarice]

Well, I am jealous of her upper arms which clearly are the result of lots of work and don't mind if she shows them off.

Roslyn never caught on to appropriate dress for the role; Clinton took forever to get it. Let's give MO a little more time..she's close, but she cannot relie on young with it designers to do more than everyday wear.

For state dinners and major events, she needs some bigger league types.

[Asgardmothershipyourspecieshasgreatpotential]

ToM,

The NEXT/PREVIOUS is a conspiracy cause the trolls won't leave and YOU LIKE THEM......

Obama's just stimulating your, I mean his, economy. One day you'll be ready and THE ONE will help you along 'cause he knows what's best and you can become like him, part of the human race. It's beautiful...............

[RichatUF]

Tom-

JM Hanes helpful comment, which probably doesn't go to a comment.

I'll try making this a link too.

by: JM Hanes | January 19, 2009 at 11:46 PM it's on page 8 of the MLK thread.

[Neo]

Katrina

President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.

The honeymoon ends ...

[jean]

TM I don't pay your salary ,don't keep this blog running so I just thank you

[clarice]

**rely**

We really do put the first family thru a terrible marathon the first day and evening, don't we? Amazing they live thru all this.

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

She (they) really could use some Hollywood help. The Thomason's were instrumental in turning the Arkibillies into believable simulacra of a First Couple. A good acting coach and dresser could have them appearing in a manner which wouldn't draw snickers and laughter within a matter of just a few years - if they both worked very hard at it.

[Stephanie]

I wasn't implying I want any traffic, that blog is disused and dormant. I don't have the inclination to post topics anymore. Everyone else says it better than I anyhoo... I much prefer surfing and commenting.

Porchlight... but..but, Princess Di used to show skin... Michelle's problem is that she is a wannabe royal and is trying on the trappings of such. Why else the Cinderella-style ball gown? And do you think anyone around her dares disabuse her of her fantasy?

[Porchlight]

True, Clarice, when she gets the knack of it she'll likely look a lot better. Smiling helps, too!

[JM Hanes]

Elliott:

Unless TM has changed it, I think the pagination is still set on the default of 25 posts per page. It would actually help quite a bit if he could change it to 50 in the Feedback form.

[narciso]

On Ron Howard, that Mayberry reunion
commercial for Obama was one of the strangest things Ive seen ever. And that Frost v. Nixon film confirms it, On Jim Hoft, he runs a good blog, dismantled a lot of the false rumors, during the campaign, has a lot of photographic links, but attracks some strong trolls; like
"Independent Thinker" a supposed AF veteran
and Alaska resident with a contempt for Sarah, and Carol M, another contemptuous lefty. All and all, I prefer this blog, even with the Previous (on '24)/Next boondoggle. I've come to know you, well like a family, kind of like the Face Book page, I never bothered to set up.

Tom I don't know where you've been on Firefox, but this has felt like Beckett's
"No Exit". I guess we can blame the Saturday cooking thread, and the
interrogation thread that segued into the troll fight, with "John of Arabia" for part of this; trying to compress bandwidth and space.

[Stephanie]

Grab your towels..Don't panic... Tom's tinkering with the blog. The previously devious/next has morphed into the symbol for back only...

[Elliott]

You are right, JMH. Thanks for correcting that.

[Neo]

I know there are only so many patriotic thing one cans say, but I just caught Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) doing a piece where he intermixes Obama's Inaugural speech with segments of Bush speeches where Bush is saying nearly the identical thing.
Obviously Obama has been hanging with Joe Biden too much.

[Neo]

I know there are only so many patriotic thing one cans say, but I just caught Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) doing a piece where he intermixes Obama's Inaugural speech with segments of Bush speeches where Bush is saying nearly the identical thing.
Obviously Obama has been hanging with Joe Biden too much.

[jean]

Can someone tell me why Mrs. Biden is being called Dr. Biden?

[Tom Maguire]

Don't panic... Tom's tinkering with the blog.

Actually, that would be a good cause for panic...

I did manage to up the limit per page from 25 to 50, and I managed to lose the "next/Previous" text, so call it one for two.

FWIW (and this is quite kludgy), once you get to the second page you will notice a comments/page/2/... in the URL. If that "2" is changed to a big number like 9, that should skip you right to the last page. Or at least it did for me on another thread (the "9" got rewritten down to a "6" and I popped up on the last page). Goofy, and still too many steps, but at least it was fewer steps.

[clarice]

neo, you don't suppose the Dems are finally catching on that there are only a few rational options, Bush took them and now Obama has to , too?

[hit and run]

You are right, JMH. Thanks for correcting that.

She was right. I think we're now up to 50/page.

[Helen]

Replying to Hit and Run (I think) who said the parents live near the Bush's new home.

We were in that neighborhood Sunday and it brought tears to my eyes to see yard after yard with "Welcome Home W" signs.

We were really impressed.

Helen

[Bill in AZ]

the 50 is a big help - thx!

[Porchlight]

I hadn't thought of Princess Di. Well, if she is Michelle's model, lots of luck.

Well, for a different tack, what would I have designed for Michelle tonight? How about fawn- or peacock-colored taffeta, cap sleeves, square yoke, Empire bodice with some sort of beading or other embellishment just under the bust - maybe a Grecian or Regency style. Straight skirt, slightly flowy hem floating just above the ankles, with gold kitten heels and not too dangly gold earrings. Hair curled up at the ends like it was during her Jackie O period earlier in the campaign.

Regal, sophisticated, soft and glamorous around the edges, but not princessy.

Okay, thus ends my fashion blogging tonight! I'm turning into a pumpkin!

[glasater]

Hah! I think I've found out where TM hang's out!!

Scroll down to 10:44 PM--html didn't pick up the comment properly.

[clarice]

niters. I'll be traveling most of tomorrow. Not to TP hq to shoot them up yet..but if you don't hear from me by Thur..start working on my alibi. I know I can count on you.

[Stephanie]

I'm crying crocodile tears after reading this...

LUN

[Rick Ballard]

TM,

Thank you for changing what could be changed - and for all your efforts in posting.

[bad]

Someone is going to post a montage of Michelle, on YouTube, reaching back to adjust the dress, as an ad for anti-itch cream of a personal nature.

Not me...

[Elliott]

Grab your towels..Don't panic

No "gird your loins?" The Vice Presidential occultation is off to a good start.

[hit and run]

Helen:
We were in that neighborhood Sunday and it brought tears to my eyes to see yard after yard with "Welcome Home W" signs.

Awesome!

[Elliott]

Thanks, TM.

[bad]

TM, you rock!!

[bad]

Safe travels, Clarice.

[Porchlight]

Thanks, TM, this is much better!

[clarice]

Thanks..And thanks, too, to TM.

[Stephanie]

That Vogon poetry today must have struck a nerve. I thought I was just mumbling that under my breath..

[Ann]

Clarice,

We really do put the first family thru a terrible marathon the first day and evening, don't we? Amazing they live thru all this.

I agree that the whole day is to much for anyone, but they are also raking in the money at these balls. As I remember it, President Bush went home early.

Michelle Obama looks like she would love to go home.

[JM Hanes]

I'm hoping that the form letter I got back on my Typepad Help Ticket -- which is where someone is actually supposed to read your question and reply with personalized support -- means they are just covered up in complaints. The form letter tries to cast pagination as a "new feature," which is the marketing term for a new constraint! Oh, and the Profile thingie that's been plaguing me is another "new feature" -- in beta! So I'm paying to test their new software. My replies probably melted the internet tubes

Clarice:

"We really do put the first family thru a terrible marathon the first day and evening, don't we? Amazing they live thru all this."

I was thinking the same thing about the long stretch in the review stand. I suspect that White House staff can use every extra hour they can get for the switcheroo between 1st Family households.

[RichatUF]

Figured out how to post directly to a comment.

1. Copy and paste the address string to the current page that the comment is on

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/01/inaugural-ball-blogging/comments/page/2/#comments

2. Right click, open in new tab on the date time group of the comment and get the dash number -145696458

3. make the html link Tom's comment at the beginning of the page

Cross fingers and hope it works;)

[Stephanie]

Thanks TM. Much better...

[bad]

I would want to go home. Tomorrow is hit-the-ground-running-on-day-one day.

[cathyf]

Just a sample from the tabs I have open:

Saturday Morning Open Thread (January 10, 2009) -- last page is 26

Jailtime - The Only Answer! -- 12 pages

Saturday Morning Open Thread (January 17, 2009) -- 23 pages

Martin Luther King Day Open Thread -- 5 pages

The Gaza War -- 6 pages

Inauguration Day! -- 6 pages

High Noon in DC -- 10 pages

Post-Game -- 15 pages

Simply forget searching any of those threads...

[Itsthedenialsentertainme]

LJ left the sixpenny servers?

Michelle thinks it's attractive?

Tom likes psychiatrists and couriers.........I don't understand why they use to see the future when it's a machine.

[RichatUF]

opps would it work if I had the right page number

Figured out how to post directly to a comment.

1. Copy and paste the address string to the current page that the comment is on

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/01/inaugural-ball-blogging/comments/page/2/#comments

2. Right click, open in new tab on the date time group of the comment and get the dash number -145696458

3. make the html link Tom's comment at the beginning of the page

Cross fingers and hope it works;)

[Tom Maguire]

Re "Figured out how to post directly to a comment.

If this new feature has crapped out the ability to link directly to a comment ("If"? "Since"), that is another reason for them to scrap it, and another reason for me to squawk at them.

[RichatUF]

Well I had it working a bit ago, but now it doesn't. Sorry for hogging up the thread.

Does this work?

Last time and I quit.

[Lesley]

I'm with Clarice & Rick: Michelle will find her fashion stride with help. Remember, even fashion icon Princess Diana had a rough start. Some of her early clothes & hats were ghastly. Nevertheless, it was her face you remember, not necessarily the clothes. Jackie Kennedy was truly the unusual case. You remember the clothes AND the face.

[bad]

But this was hardly the sort of post-racial note Obama could have wanted.

It may have worked out really well for him. The ugly stuff gets said, but by a guy everyone will give a pass to..

[Ralph L]

Neo, you're one to talk, quoting yourself like that.

[cathyf]

The form letter tries to cast pagination as a "new feature," which is the marketing term for a new constraint!

Back in my first job, where I (the system manager) shared the office (and whiteboard) with the operations manager. At one point I put a stylized picture of an insect, labeled "bug". Next to it, the exact same picture, except that the insect was wearing a Lone Ranger mask -- that one was labeled "feature".

Said it all...

[RichatUF]

Ok one more try: A comment beyond the first page.

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/01/high-noon-in-dc/comments/page/2/#comments-145637668

comment

[hit and run]

We really do put the first family thru a terrible marathon the first day and evening, don't we? Amazing they live thru all this.

Well.

Seems to me that having the Obamas attend say 10-12 balls a day, every day, for four years might actually prevent more trouble than cause. It is, afterall, the very best use of his time and talents -- delivering speeches to slavering disciples, rather than, you know, having Obama work to "...preserve, protect and defend improve, reconstruct and rewrite the Constitution of the United States."

I mean, he'll get better at dancing through practice, and Michelle will have an endless supply of fashion advice to get her through.

[Elliott]

Rich,

The first one you did worked and I think your last effort would have too if it had been "comment-145637668" instead of "comments-145637668."

[RichatUF]

Is anyone else having the problem when you click on the date time stamp on a comment it re-directs to the top of the blog post at the beginning of the comments?

Is that even in english?

Is it too early/late for coffee?