Quote Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh View Post
President Obama's speech was solidly done, with a clear and sober tone. It was not, regrettably, a speech for the ages as were FDR's 2nd, Kennedy's, or Reagan's 1st.

The woman following him was reciting poetry. I will refrain from commenting on either the poesy itself or the oral interpretation. I will only note that it did serve to begin clearing The Mall.
The problem with Obama's speech was that it sounded like the same sales pitch he was dishing out on the campaign trail. A few nice bits were sandwiched in between the 'must mention' bullet points.

As to the poet, that was truly bad stuff. I mean truly bad. Kudos to modern artists & poets lowering the bar to previously unimaginable depths. Personally I would have preferred to see a crack addled monkey toss paint at a canvas for 5 minutes. Appropriate or not it certainly would have done wonders to keep the attention of that mammoth crowd.