President Obama’s Top Ten Supremely Subtle Inaugural Jabs at Conservative Ideology (and Bush!)

Boy, does it feel good to have a president who is not just smart, but smart enough to point out the hypocrisy and outright failure of his political opposition without them even knowing what hit them! Al Giordano once referred to it as the Mack the Knife Technique and it was in full display during President Obama’s inaugural address. Looking over the transcript of the speech, here are the top ten sharp jabs I found (that Bush 43 undoubtedly just chuckled through), along with my own comments:

10. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. (Perhaps the most subtle of all, this one served as a reminder of what’s been ignored for the last 8 years!)

9. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. (Take that, Karl Rove!)

8. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works. (AKA: Nobody cares what Grover Norquist thinks!)

7. As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. (And we reject those who have given us this choice, so take a hike!)

6. (Earlier generations) understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. (A bully always eventually gets his ass kicked!)

5. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. (GOP RIP!)

4. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government. (Nobody trusts Dick Cheney!)

3. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. (The hard choices of holding the greedy and irresponsible accountable, perhaps?)

2. (Our economy’s) power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. (Our economic crisis is due, almost entirely, to a GOP ideology of embracing negligence to allow looting by the “have mores”)

1. We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. (This is my favorite, because it says not only that Bush 43 and his supporters are children, but that further GOP obstructionism will be childish and untimely . . . and it says it to those who believe in Scripture!)

It was a thing of beauty, and a signal to the World, if not to oblivious Bush apologists, that President Barack Obama will be a force to be reckoned with for conservatives determined to attack him the way they attacked Bill Clinton!