Obama is now the President of the United States. Yippee.

Obama is now the President of the United States. Yippee.

While part of me is happy for America, and for the triumph of African-Americans who have finally achieved a long overdue objective, my joy is lessened by my experience during the inauguration.

I’m currently living in the outskirts of Denver, Colorado. And Denver, in case you didn’t know, is decidedly liberal. So liberal, in fact, that it is generally an assumption for the locals that everyone around them is also liberal.

So, as I watched the inaugural address today here in our office, surrounded by coworkers, it was made clear that every one of them was a joyful liberal. They were making the standard “go Obama” statements, and carrying boxes of tissues with them to wipe their teary eyes. And whenever former president Bush appeared on the television screen, they emitted scornful insults, sardonic good-byes, and the requisite “Get out of here!”

This was all taken as acceptable behavior, and none seemed in the least aware that they were behaving like boorish poor sports, or that their snide remarks contrasted sharply with their criticism of Bush’s “arrogance”.

Many of the liberals in the room laughed good-naturedly at the television coverage and made jokes about things that were projected, but I really never sensed anything excessively offensive. But when one of the ladies got up and stormed off with her box of tissues, I wondered what was going on.

I struggled to control myself; I had no desire to ruin the event for my happy liberal coworkers. It was only at the conclusion of Obama’s rather long-winded speech, when they all clapped and celebrated his eloquence—apparently without considering the idiocy of some of the content—and while they were declaring that Obama had “killed it!”, did I finally feel compelled to respond: “Not bad—for a socialist.”

This received boos and admonitions, although a few people did laugh.

But when I returned to my desk, I discovered that the lady who fled with her tissues was very angry at the irreverence of her coworkers who—despite their also being enamored of Obama—simply didn’t display quite the level of gushing love for her taste.

Her attitude was reminiscent of an ardent church-goer who has just witnessed blasphemous behavior!

So she had felt compelled to leave, swearing to watch a recording of the speech at home, without everyone else around.

It occurs to me that this is so incredibly typical of the liberals. While conservatives have struggled to be gracious and wish Obama well, in spite of their serious misgivings about his stated policies, liberals have continued to issue hateful scorn toward President Bush and the Republicans. They feel perfectly justified to loudly voice their opinions in the office, knowing that they are surrounded by others who agree with them, and yet they feel offended if a dissenting voice from the minority dares to disagree.

This is just a hint of what is to come.