Second term

[pieces o nine]

The second term starts today.   

Favorite bits:
- the Inaugural Address.

- looking back at the crowd

- no posturing, no arrogance, just sung with heart: [youtube=425,350]mwbqD3btLiY&feature=youtube_gdata[/youtube]

Something *I* will never see!

Walking in this parade must be exhilarating, and frightening.

Afterglow will post a couple good cartoons, I believe.   

[Opsa]

It was a beautiful day here, about an hour away from all that.

I am hoping that President Obama will feel empowered by his second win and will be more firm in his leadership, meaning that he will not put up with any more trash from the GOP.

[Swatopluk]

Slightly overlooked: TODAY is (effectively) the last chance for filibuster reform, and Harry Reid seems firmly decided to cave again (i.e. to trust the GOP senate leader's word that they can work out something in a bipartisan way. Something the guy will renege on the moment to clock strikes midnight).
No meaningful reform will garner a 2/3 majority, so either it's nuclear or nothing.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Perhaps he remembers when the coin was on the flip side and the GOPhers suggested the nuclear option during the Bush2 administration. Besides, what's the point when the House not only is safely in Repug hands but will remain so for the next couple of cycles?

[Swatopluk]

The Republicans will have no qualms to totally abolish the filibuster should the Dems develop a spine. The proposed reform does not abolish the filibuster but forces the obstructing party to do it in public and to have to actively keep it up. No more blocking the actual debate anonymously. The way it is now 'cloture' is needed to even allow the debate to start and the 'filibustering' senator can do it without even being bodily in Washington. Another part of the plan is that the obstructing party has to pony up the 41 not the other party the 60 (which is a very different thing). But the 'bipartisan' plan Reid is alleged to negotiate does not even kill the stealth filibuster.
Admittedly both sides are full of hypocrisy, the Dems almost as much as the GOP.