Today is W's inauguration. Try as I might, I just can't muster up any strong feeling about it all. I find it mildly annoying that he continues to insist he has a mandate for leadership. But then that is set off by my amusement at the very same assertion. A fifty percent mandate? Come on.

I am interested in seeing what the Bush twins will be wearing to the Inaugural Ball this evening. But I am sure they won't be as tarted up as the entertainment shows have promised, so I am already trying to manage my expectations downward.

Congress bent over and confirmed Condi Rice for Secretary of State yesterday. So maybe I should call Colin Powell and invite him over to the house to watch the red carpet pre-show or whatever it is they do for these things. I'm sure he's already cleared out of his office and is padding around his basement in fuzzy slippers with a remote in one hand and his honey-do list in the other. Condi and Colin also generate cross-polarized responses from me. I'd be angry at Colin, but geez, the man has been handed his hat and surely has learned a lesson. And Condi, well, she'll get hers.

On a completely different tangent, Russell Simmons is being considered to succede Kweisi Mfume (!?!) at the NAACP. Now that is a thought provoker....

I'll be back with an esoteric essay soon...