KEY POINTS:
They don't muck around in Wellington.
The United States embassy here hosted a small but impressive function at 5.30 this morning to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama as President.
By the time I left at 7am, a wall in the foyer of the embassy was adorned with a framed picture of the new president, vice-president Joe Biden; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and acting ambassador Dave Keegan.
About 100 guests watched the event live with coffee, bagels and champagne, and with a life-sized cut-out of Obama watching on from the side of the room, a few speakers afterwards shared their thoughts.
Kadi Warner, an American living in New Zealand, talked of her friendship with Obama's late mother, Anne, forged when they were students together at graduate school in Hawaii and later in Semarung, Indonesia, on a US aid project. Anne also visited her in Kenya where she lived for a time as well.
She had talked of her son who was "all-knees and big ears" and had the normal worries of a mother, wondering if he was doing well enough in schools and was maybe too interested in basketball. How proud she would have been today.
The teenage boy was always well behaved, she said, because with Anne as his mother "he would have to be".
Warner works in Wellington with NZAid.
Former Hawkes Bay basketballer turned history teacher Eric Clarke came to New Zealand 22 years ago. He wore the t-shirt his wife had given him - with a picture of Obama and Clarke Photoshoped together.
Victoria University political scientist Jon Johannson gave a quick analysis of the Obama address. It was, he said, a clear "strong repudiation" of failed politics of the past.
"We saw a seamless discussion of new ideas, new approaches but very well grounded in perennial and old and tried and trusted American values and ideals."
Another Victoria colleague Nigel Roberts talked about meeting a young senator Obama in 2001 when Roberts won a Fullbright fellowship to the University of Illinois.
He thought then that this was someone who would go far but never imagined just how far.
I had my picture taken with the life-sized cut-out.
CNN has begun the debate over whether Obama's was a greataddress, or not particularly memorable.
But it doesn't matter that there is not instant consensus over which line was the most historic.
The event eclipses such concerns.
But it was a speech that had something for everyone, not least the rest the world watching and which resonated most.
Talking about the past generations that had forged "sturdy alliance" to face down communism and fascism he said: "They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us do as we please. Instead they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint."
It was a speech about transformation, without once mentioning the word.
The nicest touch to the speech was the way it wove in the lines of the
Natalie Cole song "Pick Yourself Up."
"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."
The only flaw in the inauguration was in the oath itself. I thought
Obama was having a John Key moment when he fluffed the second line of the oath - only to discover that the stumble was caused by the United States' Chief Justice John Roberts getting a few words out of place.
And the only flaw in the US embassy in Wellington do was that Labour leader Phil Goff conducted a loud live interview with Breakfast host Paul Henry while everyone else strained to hear the Benediction.
