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I squirmed at the word "nonbeliever" as much as I am aware that any aknowledgment of nontheistic, nonreligious perspectives is a step forward in this very religious, nominally secular state.
Just as I am prochoice, not antilife, I believe in existence, in nature, in the ethics of treating your neighbor as yourself, in empathy, generosity, in the scientific method, and so much more. While many humans hold religious beliefs, belief and truth are not synonymous.

#49: "I appreciated being acknowledged as a non-believer, and wanted to point out that Buddhists, technically, could also be considered non-believers because they do not worship a god."

Nirvana is the Sanskrit word for nothing. Therefore, it may very well be fair to refer to faithful Buddhists as non-believers.

I listened with great interest to listeners'(and yours/Mr. Williams') comments re: Obama's inaugeral speech, criticizing it for being too "sobering". I am recalling the foolish bravado which characterized the previous administration. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" shenanigan was a study in hubris and gross miscalculation - current times do dictate restraint and sobriety and the new President recognizes and articulates that. we are at the beginning of our "mission" as citizens of this great place and I, for one, am thrilled to be a part of this mission, and look forward to seeing it through to true accomplishment. I haven't been able to say that, without reservation and with pride in being American, for 8 years.

and stop calling me ATLANTA, the name is TRUTH! lol

Barry your understanding is poor. I end the conversation with you here, have wonderful cloudy day.

bcinnyc -- I didn't recognize him on the jtron -- so that's who that was! yes, many booos... i was surprised that quayle received barely any reaction -- reminded me how quickly people forget important things, and that if one is too young to have lived through something it is not recalled at all by greater society.

Atlanta, I thought you were paying lots of taxes?
Was it on all that money you were losing? You need a new accountant.
This classic though.
You make money off the market but you slam the system as corrupt. Well it looks like you can have it both ways.
Congratulations to the Mortgage Broker from Atlanta

Barry, mostly going down under the bush administration, also like I said, I am IN THE BUSINESS, I know exactly what the market does. Relax and read the whole post if you are able.

I was at the Lincoln memorial end of the mall during the inauguration. One of the biggest booos was when Joe Lieberman appeared briefly on the jumbotron!

So conservatives are upset that Bush and Cheney--the WORST and MOST DESTRUCTIVE regime in our history--were booed?!

Did anyone hear, as I did, that shoes were being tossed over the fence at the White House? It would have been fitting if someone there had thrown a shoe at the guy!

I appreciated being acknowledged as a non-believer, and wanted to point out that Buddhists, technically, could also be considered non-believers because they do not worship a god.

Partisan attack? not original, not clever

Uh Hello Barry! Give him a slice?? He was taking that four 8 years...like I said I pay taxes, and boy do I pay. The market dropped on Bush's watch, before President Obama was sworn in, I am in the business Buddy check your facts!!

Rick Warren's speech or prayer or whatever made my atheist skin crawl, but then the day was redeemed when the President (boy, that feels good to say) included non-believers in his speech -- great to be recognized rather than ignored as so often happens.

en route back from inaug where i was fortunate enough to have a ticket -- couple things listeners may not have seen on air: 1. across the mall a boom of "boos" when bush first appeared, 2. dozens of doves released (I assume) and flew as a flock above the entire length of the mall just as Obama began his speech; 3. the people around me clapped w glee every time obama said something that sounded like he was "sticking it" to the bush legacy; 4. it was extremely hard to get around yesterday morning. the fact that so many older, handicapped people made it meant that they walked many miles and stood uncomfortably for hours -- the first thing they, under obama, did that they didn't know they could do!

Do I really need to be called a non believer, that brings to mind the part in the movie where everyone lights their torches for the hunt.

Can't pick 1 favorite, but I liked hearing that Obama's administration will actually listen to science.

I disagree with Mae, the caller who criticized the level of respect that Obama showed civil rights activists. He paid tribute to "our ancestors." I read those very activists as being part of that phrase. She also does not give him credit for other statements he has made to that effect.

I was so moved by the speech. It is full of wisdom and demands to be revisited again and again. As the daughter of a family that migrated to the US, I was specially moved by the call of responsibility and hard work. I had tears in my eyes when he said: "For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life" the sacrifice made "for us" That is how I feel about my parents' hard desicion to leave their beloved country in search of a better life...the recognition of the humility, honesty and sacrifice in which this decision was made and the way they have lived their lives since. "For us"

It was nice to hear the word "digital" in a speech by a president. I'm so tired of hearing phrases like, "the Google", "the internets" and "the internet is a series of tubes". I feel like we finally have someone who "gets" the 21st century...

Come on Truth from Atlanta, are you gonna give Bush a slice of your 401k when it goes back up?
I mean hey the market dropped yesterday, did Obama cost you money already/??
Take your partisan attack act back to Atlanta

the non-citizen caller who said "I felt included" - he really said it.

Obama has made more people feel included than I can recall in my lifetime.

That was a great caller.

Obama deserves credit for acknowledging non-believers in his speech.
He also deserves credit for pledging to make greater use of alternative forms of energy.

Aretha Franklin needs to retire. Her singing was atrocious. Itzhak Perlman and YoYo Ma were outstanding.

Brian, are you gonna let him explain or NOT?? He felt included period. That was the whole point.

We "owe" bush NOTHING, in fact, looking at my 401k statement this AM he owes ME!

(in regards to the caller) I am so sick of people (including the host of this show on multiple locations) mentioning that there hasn’t been another attack. How long of a lull in attacks on the United States was there between the Revolution and the Civil War…. Between the Civil War and December 1941…. Between Pearl Harbor and WTC ’93 and WTC ’93 and September 11, 2001? Bush succeeded in terrorizing Americans into thinking everything could be terrorism and they should be grateful to him for protecting them. Interestingly WNYC has bought into this. WNYC is the only newscast I heard, in regards to the emergency landing in the Hudson, that prattled on about how it could have been terrorism related. Well, the birds were reported to be Canada geese.

Here we go again. Your caller made the comment, "Bush kept us safe for seven years." The implication is that we've had no attacks because of the actions Bush took, without anyone challenging it. Doesn't anyone remember that Osama bin Laden attacked the WTC for the first time on February 27th, seven years before the September 11th? Maybe he just has a seven year plan.

I think that race has been and is such an obvious issue in Obama's candidacy, election, and presidency, that anything he might do to directly address race would undermine any political progress he might try to make on the issue.
The fact that a black man was inaugurated into the presidency is enough of a testament to the efforts of the civil rights movement, and as this country's first black president - when so many people are already focused on race as an issue, and with so much else to accomplish in a relatively short time - to let himself state overtly what is already implied would be to let himself be pigeonholed at the beginning of his term.

"pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off" I can't help singing "and start all over again" from the Dorothy Fields/Jerome Kern song PICK YOURSELF UP
for the 1936 film Swing Time!

I was there and I must disagree with some of the other callers. I was in two different locations on the main section of the mall with all of the other regular people. The crowd that I was in was energized during the address. They were cheering. The excitement was palpable. In fact when people started to boo Bush and Cheney they were shushed. It was an amazing experience and well worth all of the discomfort that came with the cold.

Well it was a to darn cold and windy, plus the sun was to bright...again.
Overall I thought the loudspeakers didn't have enough bass all though we can all agree the tweeter and woofer were spot on!

To Andrew, the caller who just lamented the lack of recognition of Bush's contributions:

You said that people have forgotten that they "wanted to be protected" in the wake of 9/11. I agree, of course, that national security is a crucial issue. But I assure you that after 9/11, I did not "want to be protected" in the way that Bush approached things. I opposed his invasion of Iraq from the start. I opposed his bellicose posturing in the world. I opposed his "you are with us or you are against us" stance.

I object to your comment's implication: that I was a fair-weather friend to Bush; on the contrary, I assure you that I was never his friend. I cannot speak for everyone who cheered Obama's arrival, but I can say that the inauguration was a joyous event for me not only because of my belief in Obama's abilities, but also because it was a departure from an administration that I would characterize on almost every count as disastrous.

I am writing to comment on the call you recently took from a woman who claims that Barack Obama does not speak to the African American agenda. Let me tell you now that Barack Obama is not just your president. You said that he didnt win because of his intellect and schooling, well you are DEAD WRONG. He did win because of his intellect and schooling. If you voted for him because he is black, that is not a reason to vote. Your vote is shallow if based on the color of someone's skin. Barack Obama is bi-racial. How can anyone dismiss his mother? Antoher point I would like to make is that NO CANDIDATE can win high office if they cater to ANY one specific group. So, had he run on the Black agenda that you propose, he would have lost. He won because whites, blacks and all colors and races voted for him, he reached them all. Why dont you start thinking of yourself as a woman first, a black woman second and stop blaming whites for things that happened long ago. I dont hate Germans because of what happened in Nazi Germany in the 40's.

i brought my kids to dc for the inauguration.
we were in the mall - by the washington monument.
i don't know how it came across on television but the speech was not anticlimatic in person. everyone - the millions on the mall - became quiet when obama began to speak and we listened to the words. we listened with tears in our eyes. even my son, with hearing aids, and too short to see the screens, stopped and listened - it was quiet enough in the crowd for him to hear.
we were all moved. we were euphoric, but silent.

I understood the statement about collective responsibility for failing to make hard choices as a condemnation of the electorate who have allowed Congress to ignore the looming Social Security collapse, to allow the deficit to balloon, to fail to hold the Bush administration to account for their disastrous policies. We, the electorate, bear responsibility for what happens in our country, not just the leaders.

Words were great but delivery was anticlimatic.
Too many priests, Amens and mention of the God, they forgot this is a multireligious country, including us non-beleivers. Obama did mention us, thank God : )
Poem was blah and delivery was like a first grader.
Aretha was screaching and got 3 notes right.
One great thing: Rev. Lowery.

Oh yes, Bush kept us safe, assuming his administration began on Sept 12th, 2001.

I love how conservatives seem to gloss over the fact that 9/11 happended during bushs presidency. Following bad intelligence and sending our troops into the wrong country without armor and then taking 7 years to figure out you didn't even send enough of them has not actually kept us safe. So... no - bush deserves no respect at all.

To the conservative republican who just called in:

Bush's tenure was NOT the most difficult time in American history. We think it is, because it is recent memory. Try to keep some perspective.

I watched the inauguration in a bar in Brooklyn with a group of apparently very liberal and agnostic people (as evidenced by their boo's to Bush and muttered comments during the prayers... something I found rather insulting and disrespectful)
I was shocked when at the end of the ceremony the national anthem was being performed, everyone broke into song and sang along! I never thought I would see the day when this group of the population would be crying and proud to sing our national anthem in public.
I think what Obama has done so far is absolutely astounding.

On the subject of tone, overall I found it equal to the seriousness of the situation in the oountry now, but missing some note of levity, if not joy. When Lowery closed his great benediction with perhaps the most memorable lines of the whole morning, they were in part memorable for being lightly comic, and for allowing us to smile. I remember feeling (as I watched it happen online, from my desk) relieved at that moment. Ah, fun can also be a part of this.

Obama's speech was more than acceptable, while not a blockbuster. On second listening it is clearly forceful and inspiriational, while understandably lacking in specifics.

The US was the driving force in getting the world into this crisis; it's interesting that most of the world is looking to the US to get us out of it.

Now, let the Real Hard Work begin.

I'm not sure how I feel about the "service" idea--haven't since schools started either requiring it or making it an elective. On the one hand, if they're not getting it at home, the relationship of the individual to their communities, that's problematic, and getting it somewhere is better than not at all. But everything depends (as, I guess, w/most things "educational") on the experience--if it's shoved down people's throats, from guilt, etc., then resentment develoips. People best do things when they identify a self-interest--however they do that, which can be wildly varied. Setting it against the idea that government can't do everything sets government apart from "us," which essentially is how I would like to see government perceived.

On the other hand, this service stuff seems intended to counter a perceived selfish focus of self-interest, which there certainly has been, though I think it is difficult to try and parse self-interest at the moment.

Obama seems to be avoiding the word "community," as in "community organizer," and using "neighborhood" instead.

It's weird to hear King talked about as someone who gave his life to service. He gave his life to protest in, essentially, his self-interest and that of the community he came from--rightly so! He had a radical analysis, which has not been part of this discussion.

Main Street vs. Wall Street = working class vs. ruling class.

It is wonderful and amazing that we have a African American POTUS - I think Obama is wonderful. However, he is a human being first and as a person, he gave a great speech that I don't think needed to pull the race card over and over and over.

Overall I appreciated President Obama's speech. It was not a feel good sort of speech but probably had the necessary tone for the times. I appreciated his mention of non-believers I was struck by the lack of any mention of gay Americans.

I disagree with the caller, I think her name is Mae? It IS our collective responsibility not to go into debt for things we can't afford.

We can't always blame outside forces for personal decisions. There is a degree of personal responsibility that is necessary in order to dig ourselves out of this.

I agree with the caller after Mae. You need to listen to the speech a few times. It was sober and powerful. But it couldn't (and shouldn't have) revved up those crowds.

Rev. Lowery quoted the entire 3rd verse of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the unofficial "Negro National Anthem." "God of our weary years, God of our silent tears...." I am white and was at my apt with 8 other white friends, but because I attend an integrated church (Unitarian Universalist), I had sung this hymn MANY times and know if by heart (all 3 verses) and was able to chant along. IT WAS GREAT to hear that deeply meaningful song quoted as poetry.

I wasn't there but I listened to the speech 3 times and got more form it each time.
It is rather amusing to hear folks who are disopointed in the speech.
They had such high and varied expectations, come on Obama can't talk for hours!

The not so veiled criticism of the Bush policy was fine but he had no substitute (thus far) but rhetoric.

May layed it out "Obama isnt really a black American"
It's true but does it really matter!

We owe Bush and Cheney _nothing_ -- certainly not respect. What we owe ourselves is a war crimes trial.

And it is funny to hear Juan Williams trying to move away from the conservative line he's taken for 8 years. Pathetic.

As for Obama's speech: Now he is President. If he is going to try to please all the people all the time, we will never get the policies that are going to save this country from the catastrophe of the Bush imperium.

If he isn't going to tell the billionaires explicitly that they owe for reaping billions while we sweat blood, then he will be giving us nothing.

Amen for Aretha Franklin and Rev. Joseph Lowery.

Great speech, fantastic themes about values and about a vision for America's role in the world. I'm definitely gonna need those multiple listenings / readings to let it all sink in. Pretty cerebral stuff - after a cerebral poem - for a chilly crowd. I was glad that the Rev. Lowery had a more accessible benediction to wind it all up.

I was in council chambers at City Hall with my two children and 500 other New Yorkers. As we watched President Obama's speach my kids crawled into my lap and I held them both as we watched together. What struck me most was his call to put aside childish things. There was a profound murmer throughout the room. The President was not only talking to Congress, he was talking to all of us.

I was struck and heartened by the fact that Obama mentioned "non-believers" when talking about people of different religions. I feel like this must be the first time a major presidential speech even acknowledged the existence of atheists.

I was delighted to hear our leader say that we, Americans, must take responsibility for bringing about change; that we Americans must think about our actions and the impact these actions will have on the nation and the world--and not simply think about ourselves.

I was in D.C.; actually the loudest boos in my area was for Joseph Leiberman!

I saw The Daily Show last night, and thought Jon Stewart's comparisons between Bush and Obama's inaugural speeches were unexpected, but fair.

Every inaugural speech contains rhetorical flourishes designed to make patriotic hearts beat faster. Both Obama and Bush used them, referring for example to Americans standing firm in the face of those who would try to end our way of life, to present-day Americans as the beneficiaries of the sacrifices of those who came before us, etc.

I think the basic point Jon Stewart was illustrating is that there is nothing completely new under the sun. No matter how much we think will change, some things stay the same -- like the "rallying the patriots" aspects of inaugural speeches.

The lovely Reverend Lowery forgot "And Gays will have their day."

You just mentioned The Daily Show from last night, and whether or not Jon Stewart and his team were too tough on Obama, doing a comparison between his inaugural and previous Bush speeches.

The joke of the segment was actually on The Daily Show, with the correspondent asking Jon why he was doing this to Obama, and Jon saying that it's all that he knows to do. The joke is that TDS has been spending the past 8 years picking on Bush, an easy target, and now don't know how to handle Obama.

The correspondent admitted that superficially there were similar moments of rhetoric between Bush and Obama, but he also tried to explain how they are still different. He said it's like Cheese: it tastes delicious on Italian food, but if you put it on Chinese food it's disgusting. Obama is the Italian food, and Bush is the Chinese.

I heard Brian say that there was a moment when Biden was sworn in before Obama and therefore the "temp" president. I heard commentators say that by law at noon, even though he had not been sworn in Obama became president and the oath became somewhat a formality.

When you compare this inaugural speech with the first speeches of Lincoln & FDR, the two presidents he is most commonly compared with, you see that this speech could not match the spectacle of the election. The speeches of Lincoln & FDR rise above the "event".

Its interesting that during the election, Obama's speeches made his candidacy, and during the inauguration, his speech was essentially subordinate to the event