Regime Change: Live Blogging the Inauguration

10:00 AM PST: Well, I think you can make it through the rest of the day without Fosco's commentary. Thanks for your company this morning. Happy America!

9:56 AM PST: As the Bush helicopter disappears from sight... our long national nightmare is over.

9:48 AM PST: And here comes the Bush goodbye. I like this part. Think he'll give a big middle finger to everyone? We've been through a lot together, George... Ciao.

9:45 AM PST: Not rave reviews for the speech, even from the MSNBC commentators. Although everyone liked the outreach to the Muslim world (as they should).

9:40 AM PST: Finally. Doesn't America feel warmer? Happier? Sexier? I agree.

9:37 AM PST: Joseph Lowery benediction: "When yellow will be mellow"? Seriously? That was freakin' goofy.

9:33 AM PST: Should we really have so much praying? Isn't it a bit much?

9:32 AM PST: Poetry interlude with Elizabeth Alexander. You know how Fosco feels about Inaugural poetry. This one? Meh. "What if the mightiest word is love?" Not a terrible line.

9:26 AM PST: A strangely campaign-like speech at first, no? Lots of policy talk. A resounding rebuke to Bush/Cheney on all fronts, though.

Some highlights:

• One resonant line for Fosco: "begin again the remaking of America"
  
• Love the shot of Malia taking a photograph of her dad speaking.
  
• Great cutaway to Bush during part about not giving up our ideals in favor of our safety.
  
• Message to the world: "We are ready to lead once more." Nice.
  
• Shoutout to "nonbelievers" along with the religious. I like that.
  
• Very well-written passage speaking to the Muslim world and Third World. Strange to have a president who acknowledges the rest of the world (especially without making threats).
  
• "when the levees break" = fuck off, GWB.
  
• "duties" is an important word. Bush seemed to think our primary duty as citizens was shopping. I think Obama has something grander in mind.
  
• He gets choked up during his quote of Washington. Me too. That was a masterful moment.

9:04 AM PST: Oath time. Whoa--what the hell was that? Did Roberts know the oath or was he making it up too? Was Obama too nervous? A surprisingly real moment in an otherwise tightly choreographed spectacle. Wait, is Obama still president? Do we have to do the oath again?

9:00 AM PST: Love Yo-yo Ma. A nice change from Bush's Inaugural performance by Rascal Flatts. Did you know that you could design Rascal Flatts' new CD cover? I mean, assuming you could create something crappy enough.

8:57 AM PST: That's one heckuva bible that Jill Biden is holding.

Is it me, or did that oath sound a little made-up? Was John Paul Stevens ad-libbing?

Hey, there's Bruce Springsteen! Shouldn't he be performing?

8:55 AM PST: Aretha Franklin's backup choir: "Ring ring ring ring ring ring."

8:50 AM PST: Rick Warren talks a good game, I'll give him that. He certainly enunciates distinctly. Oz: "His enunciation reminds me of Chris Berman."

8:48 AM PST: Rick Warren: "[God,] You are loving to everyone you've made. Except homos."

8:45 AM PST: Feinstein speaks: CA power, baby. Maybe she should be Senate majority leader...

She's channeling that movie trailer announcer guy: "In a world..."

And there's that trademark Bush smirk. I wonder if Botox could wipe that away.

8:43 AM PST: It's my senator, Dianne Feinstein! Hey, she still owes me a reply.

8:38 AM PST: After eight years of inappropriate presidential nonverbal behavior, it's nice to see Obama's expression. He knows exactly what he's supposed to look like.

8:32 AM PST: Ouch. Bush is getting booed. And they're singing "Hey, hey, goodbye." Is this an inauguration or a basketball game? It's not in the best of taste, but what does it tell you about the Bush Administration? And after a presidency marked by his complete insulation from any dissent, I can't help but feel a little happy that he is going to hear some of it now.

8:31 AM PST: Matthews: "This is the network that has opened its heart to change." Damn it, Chris... you're making Fosco's defense of you look silly.

8:29 AM PST: Most sentimental caption for a future commemorative item... Chris Matthews reading Sasha and Malia's minds: "My daddy's president." Gag.

8:24 AM PST: Sasha and Malia look incredible: adorable and professional at the same time. Nicely done, Michelle. Fosco is digging Sasha's orange and pink ensemble (although those colors don't always quite work together).

8:21 AM PST: The MSNBC commentators are ripping on Old Bush's apparent frailty. He does look like he might not live through the ceremony.

Wait: who invited the Bush twins? Don't they have something else to do? Isn't it Happy Hour somewhere?

8:18 AM PST: They're keeping Jimmy Carter away from Clinton and Old Bush. Carter fucking hates those guys. Seriously. Isn't that interesting?

8:15 AM PST: Olbermann: "President Clinton looking unusually somber." Hillary looks great in blue, doesn't she?

8:13 AM PST: Speaking of GILFs, there's Joe Biden's mother. I'm glad she is able to see him take the oath--God willing, of course.

8:12 AM PST: And there's Al Gore. Remember how he was supposed to be our president? And now John Kerry. Sure wish he had been a better candidate.

8:07 AM PST: Hey, where'd they find Dan Quayle? I thought he was living under a pseudonym in Argentina.

8:04 AM PST: Very excited to see John Paul Stevens give the oath to Biden. JPS is one of the good ones. It's a shame that Obama has to receive the oath from John Roberts, that smug bastard. Oh well, at least it's not pubic hair aficionado Clarence Thomas.

8:00 AM PST: Michelle looks gorgeous, but her hair is having a little trouble (perhaps because of wind?).

7:59 AM PST: Chris Matthews can't stop comparing the Bushes to the Romanovs. Another unfortunate comparison.

7:55 AM PST: Motorcade, motorcade, motorcade. I'm glad that MSNBC has a real-time map of the motorcade's location. Look, cars!

7:50 AM PST: Bush looked a little less happy when he heard the Obama cheers. Do you think GWB and Obama are talking in the limo?
GWB: "You know, you're a surprisingly handsome man..."
Obama: "It sure looks cold out there."

7:47 AM PST: The floodgates open: here come the senators. Wait, who invited Joe Lieberman? That guy's a dick.

7:46 AM PST: As much as Fosco dislikes Lynn Cheney, he still doesn't think it fair that everyone calls Jill Biden "Dr. Jill Biden" and yet ignores Lynn Cheney's doctorate.

7:45 AM PST: Hmmm. Why does Rachel Maddow instantly recognize VP Cheney's daughter?

7:43 AM PST: Barbara Bush is a GILF.

7:41 AM PST: Ted Kennedy! He looks healthy as an ox. Much commentary on his hat. Where is Kenneth Cole to help us understand?

7:36 AM PST: An interview with a member of the crowd who slept in an office building last night. That makes me tired just hearing it.

7:29 AM PST: And America wonders: will the hero pilot attend the Inauguration? Who did he vote for? What is his favorite food? What else can he teach us about how to live our lives?

7:28 AM PST: If I were Barack, I would state my name in the oath as "Barack Hooooooooo-ssein Obama." And then turn to the camera and wink.

7:25 AM PST: Oh Doris Kearns Goodwin, I don't know how to quit you.

7:17 AM PST: David Axelrod: "Within five minutes of the end of the oath of office, we'll have repealed half of Bush's stupid executive orders." Or something like that.

7:15 AM PST: Fosco hates crowds and that one looks like his worst nightmare. Even with all that Obama love, I would probably get trampled to death.

7:05 AM PST: I am sympathetically cold.

7:02 AM PST: On MSNBC, Eugene Robinson says that this looks a lot like the Million Man March. That seems like a problematic comparison.

6:55 AM PST: Michelle brings a gift for Laura. Let's speculate: lingerie? "Change" t-shirt?

6:51 AM PST: It's time for coffee at the WH with GWB and Dick.
Obama: Good morning, Mr. President.
GWB: So long, suckers!
Dick: Myeh!

6:49 AM PST: Michelle is wearing a yellow/green Isabel Toledo. I like the choice of designer, but I question the color.

6:44 AM PST: Good morning, Obamaketeers! Welcome to history. Thank goodness MSNBC is inexplicably interviewing Kenneth Cole. Seriously. Fosco wishes he hadn't spent so much energy of late arguing for MSNBC's journalistic seriousness...