Swearing In Roundup

Coverage today is wall-to-wall on Bush and the inauguration. The speech is said to be about hope, freedom around the world, and unity. But on this final point a CNN/Gallup poll suggests that there is work to be done here at home :

Forty-nine percent of 1,007 adult Americans said in phone interviews they believe Bush is a "uniter" ... another 49 percent called him a "divider," and 2 percent had no opinion.

That clears that up nicely.

Meanwhile at the NYT, Tom Friedman describes how this American election matters more to Europeans and Middle Easterners, emotionally, than their own elections. Read it for the description of the Pakistani who simply wanted to watch as an American student at England's Oxford University filled out her absentee ballot.

Wonkette collects the frustrations (both practical and political) of urbane Washingtonians dealing with the Lone Star hoedown. And the WaPo has twin coverage. (Watch those V&Ts, Jenna.)