A New World

[gstark]

It has nothing at all to do wth photography, but it has everything to do with the world within which we all live, and that we all share.

The events of this morning - the swearing in of the 44th President of the United States Of America - are of great significance to all of us, and I offer congratulations to the people of the USA, and to their new president.

[Greg B]

Hear hear.

[ATJ]

And in an interesting slant, we can probably thank Dubba Ya for making it all possible.

[chrisk]

i'm glad you started this thread. i was not sure if it was something we could discuss.

here ends the reign of the greatest c**t of a leader in the history of the free world. let us hope history will not be lenient and serves as a cautionary tale to all american people that never again should a racist, fear mongering moron ever...EVER be trusted with the most powerful office on Earth.

the issue with bush wasnt the growth of his enemies so much as it was the alienation of his allies. any attack on the USA now is an attack on the world. times like this make you proud.

my only regret is that the canon fodder served up to us by Bush and the likes of Palin are now over. no more classic lines or one-liner pearlers to have a good old belly laugh at. it is a regrettable necessity no doubt. in this vein, i would like to quote a famous black comedian, (forgot the blokes name), who i saw during the candidate nominations. In response to Palin's claim that she was of sound credentials on foreign policy cos she could see Russia from her backyard, his response was "well i can see the moon from my backyard bitch, that dont make me an astronaut."

will obama provide us with such entertainment ? i think not.

[Laurie]

Been sitting at work, watching the coverage by the Today show in the background.

I think he will do a great job. I hope he will do a great job.
Good on him

[gstark]

my only regret is that the canon fodder served up to us by Bush and the likes of Palin are now over.

I thought he used a Sony ???

[Geoff M]

I
The events of this morning - the swearing in of the 44th President of the United States Of Australia - are of great significance to all of us, and I offer congratulations to the people of the USA, and to their new president.

Does that mean 'we' are taking over the leadership

[gstark]

I
The events of this morning - the swearing in of the 44th President of the United States Of Australia - are of great significance to all of us, and I offer congratulations to the people of the USA, and to their new president.

Does that mean 'we' are taking over the leadership

Corrected.

[sirhc55]

Good God people he’s a bloody politician and the only reason he is receiving such accolades is because he is not white. Let’s just wait some time and see if he is up to the job.

Signed: a non-Bush supporter

[foonji]

Obama's Presidential Portrait was taken with a Canon 5dMkII

[gstark]

because he is not white.

Which I think is a major part of the significance of this event.

Is he up to the job? Could he possibly be worse than his predecessor? At least he can speak with a fair measure of intelligibility, which is way more than we could dare say about Dubbya.

[chrisk]

he is also a man that sings from a different hymm sheet. no more fear talk...much more hope talk.

alot of people say "he hasnt done anything yet." i defy that. he has inspired people. he had almost 2million people attend an inaguration speech that lasted 20 minutes in freezing temperatures. he inspires, he motivates, he unifies, he moves people. he does what a GREAT leaders are meant to do.

[sirhc55]

He is but the titular head of a nation in decline, just like the Roman empire.

Why do you think that people in the public service earn more than the leader of a nation? Because any nation not ruled by a dictator is only as good as the public service

Doe he inspire me, no.
Does he motivate me, no
Does he unify me, no.
Does he move people, probably yes as the number of US troops in Afganistan is due to be increased.

I do hope that he does prove to be a good president but without all of the rhetoric - let’s give the guy some time and see where he REALLY goes.

[chrisk]

its not necessarily important that he doesnt do all those things to you as an individual. whats important is that you can at least recognise that he represents an inspiring breath of fresh air to many others. what his election also did was symbolise an america that was sick of the old way. sick of the fear campaigns and sick of the negativity.

[the foto fanatic]

I agree that the US, and the world, need a new direction.

I agree that the previous administration committed some grievous errors. I note that, during the eight years of the last administration, the US went from an economy in surplus to one that is just shy of US$2 trillion dollars in deficit.

However, I also agree that, as yet, the new President has proven nothing other than the fact that he is a great orator - words must become deeds before we start anointing him with holy oil. He was also able to raise the millions of dollars needed for someone to become the leading politician in the world's leading democracy. So much for anyone being able to become president.

Yes, we are all optimistic. Yes, it is a breath of fresh air.

But fresh air from Washington isn't going to give people jobs, or prevent banks from failing, or stop most of the world's economies from falling into recession.

Let's remove the burden of expectation from his shoulders and let him get on with what is going to be a mammoth task.

[Big V]

Well sport and politics mixed yeaterday and I had a conversation with our Prime Minister whilst visiting the tour down under village, he was just finishing a press conference at th Hilton. Interesting he is glued to his blackberry just like Obama

the blackberry

[ozimax]

Good God people he’s a bloody politician and the only reason he is receiving such accolades is because he is not white. Let’s just wait some time and see if he is up to the job.

Signed: a non-Bush supporter

Pretty fair comment. Like Australia, the vast majority of Americans did not vote for Obama. In that vein, blacks are now the 3rd racial group, numerically speaking, in the USA, behind whites & Hispanics. I do wish the new president the best, but only time will tell whether or not he is genuine.