They stole our national anthem!

Since I was at home this afternoon I watched the US presidential inauguration on TV.  I expect many also watched it at work - we even had a standing call cancelled today so that my American colleagues could watch it.  I was all geared up for an historic event, a moment to treasure, and Isabel watched it too, or wriggled through it, to be more accurate.  

However, the whole thing struck a few bum notes with me.  And I'm usually up for any kind of event or ceremony that will bring me to tears, especially in my current hormonal state (it'll be even worse after Pumpkin arrives - after Isabel was born I sobbed and sobbed over the medal ceremonies for that summer's Olympics!).  The only part I really liked was watching the reaction of the people in the crowd, people who had been up for hours, often driven hundreds of miles, and stood for hours in the cold to take part.  I bet they couldn't see the man himself, nor hear what anyone was saying, but I was impressed that so many were there - more than a million I believe.

Some of the things that bothered me were:

1. There were so many invited people there  - was this politics or entertainment?  On second thoughts, don't answer that.
   
2. That pastor fellow, Rick Warren, was very odd.  I've been reading up about him and he now seems even scarier than he did at first glance.  Actually, just the fact of his presence was odd - the US doesn't have a state religion, and there are no religious public holidays, so why should there even be room for a religious speech at a political occasion?
   
3. They stole our National Anthem!  I know Aretha Franklin warbled a bit, but the song sounded nothing at all like Star Spangled Banner and everything like God Save The Queen. Aha, just done some research on this too.  The woman who announced Aretha definitely said, "And now Aretha Franklin with the national anthem".  Anyway, she didn't sing Star Spangled Banner (odd, since this is the official national anthem).  Instead, we were blessed with My Country, 'Tis of Thee, which is apparently a US patriotic song which served as the US national anthem for much of the 19th century, and the tune was indeed derived from God Save The King (as it was then).   Wonder why Obama picked this instead of Star Spangled Banner?  More research reveals that it was used in an episode of the West Wing (and since Obama to my mind is Jimmy Smits in disguise, this seems a fair reason) - however, it's more likely because Martin Luther King quoted from it in his "I Have A Dream" speech.  I prefer the West Wing reason myself.