Immakulation und gedankenvolle Liebeslyrik

TS von Video meliora, proboque... hat seine Bei- und Nachgedanken zur gestrigen Civil Liturgy gesammelt; sie seien ungekürzt hier wiedergegeben:

• Rush Limbaugh has a high-larious term for the event: "the Immaculation"
• Fine invocation by Rick Warren.
• Aretha Franklin has a voice so distinctive and inimitable that "Happy Birthday" would sound interesting, let alone the sublime "My Country Tis of Thee".
• Loved the violin quartet.
• How unfortunate that Chief Justice Roberts called him "Barack Hussein Obama". Hasn't he learned from the conservative talk show hosts that you can't call him that? :-)
• Somebody flubbed up the vows. Initially I thought it [was] Obama, because I wasn't paying attention to Roberts. (The giver of the oath is like the priest at a wedding ceremony: no one's paying him any mind.)
• I liked the speech. Good Lord was that better than that awful Democratic National Convention yawner. This time Obama spoke about such things as the market being the great creator of wealth, and of how personal responsibility is key. A bit over-dramatic at times in the sense of "the end of the world is nigh" although if we do end up in another Great Depression it'll feel retroactively accurate. As it is, in terms of desperation and danger we're not to the point of "the snow stained red" as it was during the winter of 1776.
• About the poem, lest said is best. Writing a piece for an occasion, rather than via inspiration is difficult. Poetry, like sexual intercourse, perhaps is best done under the influence of mindlessness rather than mindfulness.
• Benediction by Lowrey was also a malediction, as far as whites are concerned. You really show your own smallness of spirit when even after your side has won you have to get the last jab in.

Was das Gedicht angeht, hat er recht: Sehr gut gemeint, aber das war es schon, das Heraufrufen der alltäglichen Augenblicke kombinierte geschickt den Blick auf (das) Einzelne und das Panorama der Nation, aber im Höhepunkt bricht es ab: Da, wo Elizabeth Alexander über das "mightiest word" meditiert und von der Liebe spricht, die über das Du des Partners, über das Ihr der Familie, das Wir der Nation hinausgeht, fällt ihr nur ein schwaches Bild ein: "a widening pool of light". Da kann sich jeder denken, was er mag. Hauptsache, es schaudert ein bißchen die Wirbelsäule entlang. Bischof Gene Robinson hätte gesagt: "O Love of Our Many Understandings."