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10:33 AM. Open e-mail at work. There’s a message from the United Republican Fund of Illinois. “Let’s Rebuild Our Party Together and Make it a Party of Principle,” it says. “As the millions of Americans who voted for ‘change’ last November celebrate today’s inauguration of Barack Obama – we must use this event as a launching pad for the restoration of our Republican Party in Illinois. After all, Barack Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate as a result of the infighting and backbiting that has plagued our party for far too long .And today’s event comes on the heels of the arrest of our governor – a corrupt, unpopular politician who was re-elected in a landslide over the feckless, uninspiring candidate fielded by the Republicans in 2006.” That would be Judy Baar Topinka.
10:51 AM. There’s a screen set up here at the Reader and we’re watching the BBC feed of the inauguration. Why not? That’s Quality TV. The Reverend Rick Warren has just delivered the invocation, but I wasn’t taking notes, and now, 5 minutes later, I don’t remember if he asked God to give Barack Obama “the generosity to lead us with compassion” or “the compassion to lead us with generosity.”
5:17 PM. Pictorial evidence arrives — from Gary, Indiana, no less — of a resurgence of entrepreneurship in America. This development is doubly welcome because it appears to be exactly what I called for in December. when I proposed a national chain of keepsake outlet stores that would be known as Trader O’s. Nothing wrong with the given name, the plain, sturdy, The Obama Shop, though if the idea catches on and spreads to Chicago’s better neighborhoods, Ye O’ Bama Shoppe might lure more clientele.
