Our People, Our Future

In this brief pre-Inauguration message, President Obama previews the goals and themes of his second term.  Meanwhile people are gathering in Washington for Inaugural weekend.  (Hi Mike!  Send me some exclusive photos!)  In one crowd by their booth on Saturday, CNN found people from all over the country and beyond our shores.  I have a feeling that, like the election, the number of people participating will turn out to be misunderestimated.

As he says in the video, the slogan for the Inaugural is "Our People, Our Future." President Obama is sworn in for his second term officially on Sunday (as per the Constitution, January 20) though the public ceremony and Inaugural Address are Monday, which also happens to be Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday holiday.   With an approval rating ranging from 51% to 54% depending on the poll, perhaps his best pre-Inaugural gift is knowing that his refusal to negotiate on the debt ceiling has won the day, and the GOPer House leadership has announced they'll pass it. 

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is reconstituting as Organizing for Action, an advocacy group with three principal issues on the immediate agenda: reduce gun violence, climate change and immigration reform.  I'm in.

And according to Andy Borowitz,  Fox News will be shutting down for scheduled maintenance on Inauguration Day.   Roger Ailes explained the timing of the shutdown, which will be the first in the history of the network: “We wanted to pick a time when we were positive nothing would be happening that our viewers would want to see.”