So Peggy thought GOD was overdone but the music was not specific enough in reference to the Almighty? She sure sounds conflicted. Maybe being paid to be critical takes the edge off of enjoying a really great moment in history. Her loss.
She wanted more established music. Have you read the column? She also described the Bush administration as having "mission inebriation", this when the President's hard drinking past is well known seems an unnecessary phrase to come up with.
I'll go find the link to her column.
excerpt:
There were some surprises, one of which was the thrill of a male voice singing "God Bless America," instead of the hyper-coloratura divas who plague our American civic life. But whoever picked the music for the inaugural ceremony itself--modern megachurch hymns, music that sounds like what they'd use for the quiet middle section of a Pixar animated film--was . . . lame. The downbeat orchestral arrangement that followed the president's speech was no doubt an attempt to avoid charges that the ceremony had a triumphalist air. But I wound up thinking: This is America. We have a lot of good songs. And we watch inaugurals in part to hear them
Never be defensive in your choice of music.
~snip~