Filed under: Republicans, Barack Obama, Obama Administration, Inauguration As President-elect Barack Obama stands to take the oath of office today, some conservative commentators and pundits are lending their voices to a chorus of opposition against his policies. While the nation has been mostly caught up in a paroxysm of elation at the coming of a new administration, these opinionators are not reveling. Rather, they are exercising their time-honored and sacred right to dissent.

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh says that the new president is entitlted to exactly the same reception from conservatives that liberals greeted President George W. Bush with in 2001.

"They didn't give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated the search-and- destroy mission had begun. I'm not talking about search-and-destroy, but I've been listening to Barack Obama for a year and a half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he's stated them. I don't want them to succeed."

Another conservative luminary, Michelle Malkin, took after Republicans in Washington whom she says have gotten out of the way of the Obama freight train. Malkin wants elected Republicans to show more backbone in opposing Obama and his policies. "My criticism of the GOP

establishment is they are completely out of touch with how fly-over America feels about this [inaugural] spectacle."

RedState.com's Erick Erickson, a rising star in the world of conservative activism and punditry, focused his ire at the media, whose over-the-top coverage has turned the inauguration preparations into a canival -like side show. Erickson says the media is not covering Obama, but engaging in

"I think we are going to be treated to hagiography for weeks if not months. The first time Obama uses the bathroom, Newsweek will do a five page spread."

The national good mood over Obama's inauguration is likely to last for at least his first 100 days in office. But as President Obama's and the Democratic Congress' plans and policies begin to take hold, he will begin to be judged more and more on results. Obama no doubt knows this, and is trying in vain to dampen expectations and to insulate his administration against the backlash that will come with anything less than resounding success. But these conservative commentators would not mind seeing President Obama have a little more difficult time establishing himself. Their opposition should be a signal to Obama that soon the basking in the public's adulation and the media spotlight will end, and he will have to deal with a loyal, and vocal, opposition.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Inauguration Let's just say that the big moment between Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and President Barack Obama did not exactly go according to plan.

First, Roberts seemed to hesitate in the first part of the oath, prompting Obama to start in with "I Barack Hussein Obama," as Roberts continued on with the rest, causing a verbal traffic jam.

Then, Roberts changed the wording of the oath, misplacing the word "faithfully", and obliged a bemused Obama to incorrectly repeat after him. In short, those 35 words that should have gone without a hitch, will forever go down in history as the way not to swear in a president.

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Filed under: President Bush, Barack Obama, Media To the victor go the spoils. Just as has been the case in the aftermath of every political contest in our nation's history, the people who voted for the winner walk around, for a time, with a little something extra in their collective step, while the constituents of the defeated candidate complain of sore winning. Witness the responses to Barack Obama's victory here at Political Machine. Our conservative writers will have none of this change business, while our liberal voices are bursting out in song.

After enduring two consecutive victories by George W. Bush, during which I felt equally low to my right-leaning colleagues, I know too well the sting of hearing the other party talk of mandates and the like. And it is easy to understand why Obama's

iconography, and bumper-sticker-ready slogans are like so much salt poured into conservative wounds. But if Republicans are surprised that Obama really pulled this thing off, they should realize that a whole lot of Democrats feel the same way. Yes, as incredible as it sounds, Barack Hussein Obama is our new president.

sweet for all those who supported Obama, and one long nightmare for those who didn't, the overwhelming majority of Americans are wishing the new guy the best. Sure, as Mark pointed out earlier, a few powerful GOP figures (such as Rush Limbaugh) are openly declaring they do not wish Obama well, so help them God, even the lion's share of those disappointed

by the outcome of this election would like to see the country rebound quickly, no matter who is awarded the credit.

So, to my liberal friends (and those who just feel like celebrating something), have a good time today. Enjoy this moment. There are, as Obama puts it, "tough days ahead."

Filed under: Democrats, Republicans, Barack Obama, Gay Rights, Obama Administration, Inauguration About, oh, maybe 10 people eventually clapped when Rev. Rick Warren was introduced to give the invocation during Barack Obama's inauguration today. It did seem, however, that he got more claps than former President Bush.

The founder and senior pastor of the Saddleback Church in Orange County, CA, no doubt took the podium with at least a little trepidation, given the outcry over his selection by the gay community. Even though the Warren dustup wasted several days' worth of headlines after Obama announced his selection, it appears now no one cares too much and people just want to revel in the moment.

A new Gallup Poll just out shows that most Americans either approve of Warren giving the invocation or don't even know he was doing so, while just 9 percent disapprove of Warren's role. Even among liberals, support for Obama's choice far outweighs disapproval, 39 percent to 16 percent. Among Democrats, there is 37

percent approval compared to 10 percent disapproval. Among liberals, the numbers are similar with 39% approving and 16% disapproving. Approval is obviously higher among Republicans and conservatives.

espouse any perceived "anti-gay" message. In fact, as he prayed, you saw people with hands outstretched, crying. They were taken with the moment. It was a testament to Obama's inclusion of people of all views.

Obama
President Before
Oath Taken

12:00 p.m. Barack Obama is now the president of the United States, even though he hasn't yet taken his oath of office. So says the Constitution, anyway. History is made, even if the proceedings are running a tad behind schedule.

12:05 And now the oath has been administered, albeit clumsily. Did they rehearse that? Oh well, I'm sure nobody will ever replay that moment on television again.

Anyway, remember where you are and what you're doing, because you'll need that information when future generations ask you.

ensure that Moonlight, their open-source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight, will allow streaming from the official

Obama Inauguration Likely To Be Most Watched Event in Television History

Filed under: Barack Obama, Breaking News, Media According to Pew Research, 67% of Americans say they will watch today's inauguration of Barack Obama. If so, that would put the number of viewers at 202 million, almost double the amount of people who watched the final episode of M.A.S.H.

We'll have to wait for Nielsen's final numbers, but it's clear that Obama's inauguration, in addition to drawing the

Filed under: Barack Obama, Inauguration
Pardon my future hat head.
From hell's Heart I stab at thee
more photos ...

There's been a lot of hand-wringing in the paper journalism world lately about business models, so it's no surprise that bad ideas for business models are springing up again. Specifically, some are

beginning to wonder if micropayments could work. As Clay Shirky notes in the article, any time people bring up micropayments as a solution, it's a hail mary pass -- a last ditch effort by someone who has no other ideas. Now, every time we bring up micropayments, we get some pushback, but no micropayment system

has ever been shown to consistently work on a large scale -- especially when it comes to news. People will. undoubtedly point to iTunes or even the iPhone app store as micropayment examples to the contrary, but both of those pale when compared to free music and free apps in terms of volume -- and considering the business

models we've seen adopted that don't rely on those sorts of payment structures it's difficult to believe that such systems will really be dominant over the long haul. They work in the short term, mainly due to the convenience factor -- but they're a stop gap -- not a true strategy to deal with digital economics. Micropayments add in

an element of unnecessary friction -- which represents an economic inefficiency. They may work for some time, but eventually someone comes up with better business models that get rid of that inefficiency.

More Silly Restrictions
Will Limit Team Obama's
Ability To Communicate

While there are some indications that newly inaugurated President Obama is going to be able to keep his Blackberry (or some other device) to communicate with the outside world, similar "restrictions" are being used to curtail his staff's ability to communicate. Specifically, staffers have been told they have to give up instant messaging. The reasoning, once again, comes down to the lawyers, and that records need to be kept of all written communications in the White House, according to the Presidential Records Act. However, it's seriously (and reasonably) pissing off Obama staffers who have come to rely on IM as a very efficient way to communicate and get stuff done.

It's really sad when efficiency is getting stifled by lawyers, though it happens all too often. Why not just make it clear to staffers to consider the fact that everything they instant message may be seen on CNN the next day, and tell them it's their responsibility to use the tools effectively? This is the federal gov't we're talking about. Why are they being treated like grade school kids? The purpose of the Presidential Records Act is to increase transparency in government. But, like so many unintended consequences of regulations, it's doing the opposite. It's driving people to use less efficient and less useful tools of communication to decrease transparency.