Jackson Free Press

It was a great honor for me as chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to emcee the presidential inauguration and to help plan it. Since Washington's day, inaugural ceremonies have not been just about the President, but more so a celebration of a new chapter in American democracy.

In a way, it's really not just the President who swears to uphold our Constitution on January 20, but all Americans are recommitting to our nation's common and continuing pursuit of liberty, without regard to our political party, ethnic, religious or social backgrounds.

I used my chairmanship of the Inaugural Committee to promote and honor our state. Mississippians are a proud and talented people. We've contributed well beyond our proportion to the nation's artistic development with world renowned writers, artists, and musicians.

Guy Hovis, a Tupelo native who spent years on the Lawrence Welk Show , began by singing a riveting and inspiring song written by former U.S. Senator and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Many of you may have seen Guy performing in Branson, Missouri, or at events throughout Mississippi where he serves as director of my state offices.

B.B King also was at the inaugural. Mississippians invented the blues, and for most folks, B.B. King is the King of the Blues. People from all over the world make pilgrimages to Mississippi every year to visit our many historical blues sites, particularly in the Delta. The blues is a uniquely American genre of music, and having a living legend like B.B. King take part in the inaugural ceremonies was very fitting and absolutely fantastic.

Mississippi's educational community was well represented by the Alcorn State University Choir, and the Gautier High School and the Stone County High School marching bands. When I heard the Alcorn State Choir perform in the historic chapel at Alcorn State last year, I heard a marvelous audible treat. I saw and heard a choir that is worthy not only of our national stage, but the world stage, too. They are great ambassadors for Alcorn and for Mississippi, and they made a great addition to this inaugural.

On the same token, the Gautier High and Stone County High bands reflected the excellence of their schools and communities. Americans hear a lot about bad schools in the news, but not enough about the many schools that are great places to study, learn and develop leadership skills. These two bands did a great job representing Mississippi and honoring President Bush.

Mississippians also crafted the inaugural gifts presented at this year's traditional inaugural luncheon. Pewter Graphics of Gulfport hand made bowls rimmed with hand-crafted pewter renderings of the U.S. Capitol and the White House. Many of these "Made in Mississippi" mementos are destined to be handed down for generations - a lasting legacy for this inauguration and for the Mississippi artisans who made them.

Most of all, on January 20 we made honoring our military men and women the top priority of this inaugural, as we should in the midst of our War on Terror. Since September 11, 2001, our military has protected our nation and liberated millions around the world. Some folks have questioned the privately raised $40 million cost of the inaugural ceremonies, but it's a small price to pay to honor our military. The taxpayer cost itself, driven upward mostly by security measures, reflects the new threats our world faces. And we can't forget that it's our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guard who stand between us and these deadly threats.

In this inaugural the President outlined an ambitious agenda for his second term, using "freedom to fight tyranny" as his central focus. Mississippi has always been one of President Bush's strongest bastions of support, and this inauguration showed it. But, more importantly, this ceremony reflected not just America's commitment to this President, or any President - but to our nation's enduring constitutional principals and the many uniformed people who keep our republic free. (1/27/05)

Senator Lott welcomes any questions or comments about this column. Write to: U.S. Senator Trent Lott, 487 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510 (attn: Press Office)

Previous Commentsshow

"Some folks have questioned the privately raised $40 million cost of the inaugural ceremonies, but it's a small price to pay to honor our military." ---Some how I feel our troops might have seen this money better spent on other things....say maybe armor for humvees. http://alternet.org/story/21038/

kp

Jan 27 2005

So many Humvees, so little time. Can you imagine the goodwill (and the improved legacy) that would have resulted had W. Bush said, "A huge inaugural is such a waste of money that could help the troops. Instead, we're going to ask donors to donate it for armor." Or something like that. That would be character.

DonnaLadd

Jan 27 2005

'so many humvees..' right on, ladd, as usual. bring the troops home. like now. bring the troops home.

sunshine

Jan 27 2005

there are finally getting to be lots of calls for bring the troops home , hurray. http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0126-17.htm and for bible scholars out there, and I know there might be some because I run into them everydamnwhere, , this progressive analysis of gw's speech is pretty cool (was also on democracynow) - http://www.progressive.org/webex05/wx012105.html

sunshine

Jan 29 2005

Remember Vietnam? It's what Sen. Ted Kennedy compares Iraq to. He fails to mention however that his brother is the one who got us in Vietnam in the first place. (To save the French once again) Anyhoo, something people don't like to talk about is the 2 Million Cambodians, not to mention all the S. Vietnamese, who were slaughtered immediately following our withdrawal from Vietnam. If we bring our troops out of Iraq in the same fashion, mass murders and genocide WILL occur. We got ourselves into this mess, now let's be responsible enough to clean it up before we move ALL our troops out. Hopefully troops will start coming home soon... gradually. While a mass withdrawal sounds like a nice idea, it would surely be disasterous.

jlp

Jan 31 2005

from the direction of "sunshine" I did give a look to the article posted in the "progressive" magazine. With all due respect, it is an extremely absurd article. The connections made from George W. Bush's to scripture are a stretch to say the least. "good measure" = "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure. . . .î For even the most astute of biblical scholars, i'm not sure if "good measure" is firing off as an allusion. And even if there were subtle allusions to scritpture, why would this necessarily be a bad thing? As for the issue of George W. Bush's faith, why would it be bad for George W. Bush to believe his actions are in line with what God would have him do? Most people think their actions are in line with some "right" standard. Wouldn't it be more dangerous for someone to make decisions based purely upon what they thought. Now perhaps Bush is doing that, that's up to you to decide, but at least can't we say that basing ones actions upon God's will as revealed in scripture something to aim for? (for a case for the ethics of war against terror see "Just war against terror: the burden of american power in a violent world" by Jean Bethke)... also on the issue of money raised for the event. (1) is this amount comporable to most presidential inaugurations? if so, perhaps this is bad, but let's keep our criticisms consistent. (2) if it is more than an average inauguration, then I concede this is surely not desirable.

Matt Kilgore

Feb 2 2005

from the direction of "sunshine" I did give a look to the article posted in the "progressive" magazine. With all due respect, it is an extremely absurd article. The connections made from George W. Bush's to scripture are a stretch to say the least. "good measure" = "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure. . . .î For even the most astute of biblical scholars, i'm not sure if "good measure" is firing off as an allusion. And even if there were subtle allusions to scritpture, why would this necessarily be a bad thing? As for the issue of George W. Bush's faith, why would it be bad for George W. Bush to believe his actions are in line with what God would have him do? Most people think their actions are in line with some "right" standard. Wouldn't it be more dangerous for someone to make decisions based purely upon what they thought. Now perhaps Bush is doing that, that's up to you to decide, but at least can't we say that basing ones actions upon God's will as revealed in scripture something to aim for? (for a case for the ethics of war against terror see "Just war against terror: the burden of american power in a violent world" by Jean Bethke)... also on the issue of money raised for the event. (1) is this amount comporable to most presidential inaugurations? if so, perhaps this is bad, but let's keep our criticisms consistent. (2) if it is more than an average inauguration, then I concede this is surely not desirable.

Matt Kilgore

Feb 2 2005