The excitement in the air on the mall was palpable.  Early estimates are around 2 million people-they were stretched the entire two and a half miles from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.  I spent the morning greeting people and everyone was high fiving, strangers were hugging each other.  One African-American woman said thank you to me for volunteering, gave me a huge hug, and said quietly, “It’s been a long time coming, but we’re here.”  It was amazing how incredibly happy everyone was, even when all 2 million of us were trying to leave the mall at the same time, down the few streets that weren’t barricaded.

The swearing in itself was moving, and I thought President Obama’s speech was beautiful.  He called on us to be what we all want America to be, instead of celebrating what we pretend we are.  The line about false choices between safety and ideals got a good deal of applause.  Also, let it be known that among the people standing between the Washington Monument and Constitution Avenue, Rick Warren got booed, although everyone bowed their heads for the Lord’s Prayer.  I can’t speak for the rest of the Mall, though.

The parade started late, partly because of Senator Kennedy’s seizure, so we didn’t stay for the whole thing, but left after the Presidential Parade part.  Which was also great-we were only about 20 feet or so from the Obamas and Bidens when they were walking the last stretch.  The crowd, which was getting very antsy and cold and irritated by the delay-and incredibly annoying announcer-all perked up and forgave everything when we got to see the new President and Vice-President.  Everyone was chanting, “O-Ba-Ma!” when we saw the press vans, and “Biden! Biden!” when they came ’round.  I’m constantly amazed by the level of excitement that people have for the new administration.  I just hope he can live up to all the expectations.

And now I’m off to the Southern Ball!  And sometime later this week, sleep.

We will also, though, have a President that we as a nation can be proud of again.  President Obama has a unique opportunity in America-the Washington Post notes that no other President has entered office with such overwhelming public support.  And he has the unique ability to lead us, to inspire us, and to harness that support, which so many people lack.

My generation has not had much hope.  We have been raised on a steady diet of irony and cynicism.  The generation before us had dreams, and they were crushed.  They watched their leaders and heroes cut down one by one, so that it was easier not to love and to hope.  They saw their government turn against them, and so it was easier not to believe.  And as almost everyone in the nation pulled back inside themselves, we took that in, and grew up being against movements and ideals, and even now almost all of us feel the need to distance ourselves from too much hope, and assure everyone that we still have our jaded cynicism and do not expect the world of Obama.

And I do not expect the world-he is just one man, and imperfect as are all people.  But I do think we have the chance now to accomplish so much because of what Obama has inspired.  Something has happened in this election.  So many people have been united, as we see someone who can inspire us, and as we all share the desire not just to wash away the last eight years, but to start, we hope, down a whole new path.  I have never felt anything like this election before.  I am amazed that at the last rally before the election, in Manassas, VA people parked 2 or 3 miles away to see Barack Obama.   I am amazed at how many people volunteered, spending their free time knocking on door and calling strangers.  And I am amazed at how many people are here in DC today, all celebrating together.

There has been a party in the streets for the last four days.  Everyone is talking to each other on the metro, smiling and shouting out greetings, heck, deep down we all want to hug, because we feel united in this quest.  Last night, on the metro, someone started chanting, “Fire it Up!”  And we all yelled back, “Ready to go!”  A little later someone started, “When I say Barack, you say Obama!”  And you know what?  Everyone did.  No matter how jaded we’d like to be, we’re all excited, and we all want to celebrate.  And you know what?  I think that’s a good thing.  So many folks have criticized the Obamamania, and the “Obamabots,” but they are wrong to.  For once, we are starting to come together in hope instead of fear.  For once, my generation has something to believe in.  For once, my jaded and cynical peers are part of a movement.

A movement that elected Barack Obama, the nation’s first African American president.  God Bless America.

Presidential Inaugural Committee communications director Josh Earnest got to do the speaking (and, yes, I got a mild chuckle out of having a communications guy named “Earnest”): 

“We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson’s invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday’s program. We regret the error in executing this plan – but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event.”

An apology without an explanation. Better than nothing? Maybe, but they were rather pushed into action. If there was an “error in executing this plan”, the details of that error could be mentioned briefly and people would be more apt to accept the apology.

But Bishop Robinson’s inclusion was more minor than anyone had expected because his prayer was omitted from the television broadcast on HBO. As Dan Savage says: “When you’re throwing folks a bone it’s a good idea to make sure they can, you know, see the bone.” AfterElton.com contacted the network to see why Robinson didn’t make it to air: 

Contacted Sunday night by AfterElton.com concerning the exclusion of Robinson’s prayer, HBO said via email, “The producer of the concert has said that the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show.” 

HBO didn’t comment further. It’s hard to know what that means exactly. Was the Presidential Inaugural Committee only willing to stretch so far in appeasing those protesting Warren? Or did they have another, less nefarious reason for the exclusion? It’s hard to imagine what that reason could be. 

Luckily, Sarah Pulliam of Christianity Today took video of Robinson’s speech and posted it online. Video and transcript (courtesy Pam’s House Blend) below the fold: 

Transcript:

A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama 

By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

Opening Inaugural Event 
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC 
January 18, 2009

Welcome to Washington!  The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and  warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe.  We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one.  We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe.  Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

AMEN. 

Warren is against “abortion rights, gay rights, stem-cell research and euthanasia. In 2004, he described these issues as ‘nonnegotiable’ and ‘not even debatable’.” He supported Proposition 8 in California. His reasons for being against gay marriage are disturbed:  

He went on to say he’s opposed to gay marriage the same way he is opposed to a brother and sister marrying (that would be incest), a man marrying a child (that would be statutory rape), or someone having multiple spouses (that would be polygamy). Pressed by Waldman, Warren said he considered those crimes equivalent to gay marriage.

Warren also said that it was better for an abused partner (meaning: wife) to stay in a marriage than divorce because “It’s not like you can escape the pain…You don’t– you don’t escape the pain. And I’d always rather choose a short term pain and find God’s solution for a long term gain, then try and find a short term solution that’s going to involve a long term in life.” 

Newly making their rounds on the internet are two videos that feature visual and/or audience documentation of Warren making comments that suggest Christians should follow Jesus the way the Nazis followed Hitler. To his credit, Warren does identify Hitler as being evil. Apparently not evil enough to avoid usage in creepy metaphors. 

This isn’t a comparison he made by accident or something he’s trying to distance himself from. The following video- where he again makes the Hitler comparison- is still live on his P.E.A.C.E. Plan website: