Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration, at last



2009年一月二十日,是奧巴馬就任的大日子。在首都華盛頓,聚集了二百萬見證歷史的群眾。

布殊總統掌權旳八年間,美國政壇嚴重分化,人民普遍不信任政府。今天,國家景氣低迷,雖未至百廢待興,也是陰霾密佈。

但奧巴馬的上任,為國家暫時營造了一點點樂觀的氣氛,美國人都對他寄予厚望,期待着真正的改革。這是個難得的機遇,但願新政府能帶領美國人走出眼前的危機。

可惜工作繁忙,未能收看整個典禮,只在網上看了宣誓儀式。如此歷史性的時刻,居然也能出錯,John Roberts 可算是成了「千古罪人」"I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States"和"I will execute the office of president of the United States faithfully"兩句,副詞放在不同位置,意思有沒有不同?要請教文法專家了。

奧巴馬的膚色,選舉策略,和政治理念,為美國的政治生態,帶來了前所未有的衝擊。這一切一切,在大選前後已討論了很多很多,現在是看他施政能力的時候了。

電視上,看見 Danzel Washington 在舞會中介紹新任總統和第一夫人出場,二人在 Beyonce 一曲"At Last"下翩翩起舞,接着是 Stevie Wonder,Mariah Carey,Mary J Blige 等群星合唱。看着這位魅力和巨星不相伯仲的總統,心中忽然閃過一個念頭:the next four (hopefully eight) years will be lots of fun!


At Last - Etta James

At last, my love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh, yeah, at last
The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clovers
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh, yeah when you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine
At last


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