Of hope and virtue

First I watched the Inauguration episode of The West Wing, then I watched the Inauguration with Ondine for company (via IM). I wish I'd had the foresight to organise an Inauguration-viewing party, but oh well ...

The bit of the inauguration speech I liked best (from the Dallas Morning News' transcript):

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.