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By all accounts a remarkable day! Amongst the pomp and paegantry of the day, often most poignant were the things unspoken: When Barack and Michelle Obama were greeted at the steps of the White House by President and Mrs. Bush prior to the inauguration. Seeing all the former presidents escorted out of the tunnel to their seats at the Capitol, followed by the solidarity president elect on his way to becoming commander-in-chief. Then there was the send off of the Bush's by the new president for a final fly-by over their old stomping grounds before heading back to Texas. But the ceremony itself was surprisingly unspectacular. There was the fumbling of the actual swearing in that made these important people all the more human. But the invocation and benediction seemed more a rehearsal of the moment than a prayer for the new first family, and the poetry reading was painfully anticlimatic and uninspiring, probably in part due to its placement in the ceremony - after the president's inaugural speech!? Then there was the speech. Obama was his usual riveting self, but this speech was not one for the ages that his acceptance speech was on election night. Here he was sober and tough, a call to civic responsibility to all Americans while reaching across the globe to build bridges with friends as well as enemies. But I kept waiting for the momentum, the stirring that was so much a part of his speech in Chicago. I kept waiting for those quotable lines that would be repeated again and again forever that would fall down like grace from the sky. But I suppose he may have been a victim of his own brillance, his own mastery of the words, his own stunning ability to inspire. Still an unforgettable moment to be sure, but I suppose in this case, a moment that words cannot but fail to capture in its magnificence, historical signficance, and enthusiastic pride.