Oh, there'll be plenty. I expect to join my fellow bloggers in attempting to keep President Obama's feet to the fire, even those bloggers who were fortunate enough to be able to go to Washington and get decent seats at the inauguration and have been patting themselves on the back for how awesome they are as opposed to us mere proles who have to go to a full-time job and rely on the kindness of our employers to allow us to watch the inauguration in real time. But I think what's going to be really fun is to watch the press cover the first African-American (in a very real sense of the term) president.
So of course when I saw the name "Katharine Q. Seelye" in a byline at the New York Times' Caucus Blog, I simply had to read what she had to say. Seelye, you recall, is the numbskull famous mostly for revealing to Evgenia Peretz just how in the tank she was for George W. Bush in 2000 in this Vanity Fair article, but also for helping Captain Codpiece paint John Kerry as a wuss who would endanger our safety by cutting defense in 2004, going all the way back to 1994 to do it.
So what does Ms. Seelye have to say about the new First Couple?
The whole ball tour was supposed to end at 2:55 a.m., but they’re wrapping it up before 12:45. And who can blame them? By the fifth and sixth of these things, the first couple were clearly operating on fumes.
All night they’ve been leaning back and forth in lieu of dancing, and stepping on Mrs. Obama’s dress; he’s been saying he wants to dance with “the one that brung me,” and he tells the crowds that his wife is doing everything he does except backwards and in heels. The difference is that for the last few balls, they have actually looked exhausted.
[spin]
“When you look at the history of this campaign, what started out as an improbable journey, where nobody gave us a chance, was carried forward by, was inspired by, was driven by, was energized by young people all across America,” Mr. Obama said.
The audience gave him huge applause and started chanting, “Yes we can!”
He went on to give them a campaign-style pep talk, which we’ve transcribed for you below. But he also commented on his dance moves, which have been creating some buzz all night, mostly because watching him dance was a surprise. Rather like seeing him bowl last year during the Pennsylvania primary, you expected it to be a little more polished, a little smoother.
Mr. Obama, it turns out, specializes in the slow sway of guys who aren’t super-comfortable on the dance floor. And he will occasionally throw in a twirl.
But what his style may have lacked in panache, it certainly made up in passion. He and his wife cuddle and coo and smooch and are very comfortable — they even look happy — in each other’s arms.
So all of this chatter about dancing prompted him to say after a turn on the floor at the Youth Ball, “That’s what’s called ‘Old School.’ ” Everyone laughed.
Shorter Kit Seelye: "But aren't black people supposed to be good dancers?" What Seelye doesn't realize is that it's OK for Jamie Fox to say “You can tell that was a black president by the way he was moving.” under the It's OK To Knock Your Own Team rule. Perhaps she expected breakdancing.
Coming up tomorrow in Kit Seelye's Playhouse: The Oversexed First Couple: How Dare They Show That They Actually Like Each Other; It's So Unseemly.
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