That was sort of an expensive inauguration, considering we're in, like, an economic crisis

But maybe that counts as stimulating the economy?

Back in 2004, Democrats and some in the media criticized Bush for having an extravagant inaugural while the country was in a fairly big war. This time, I didn't see much criticism at all.

But there was some, it turns out. James Rainey compared the reactions in 2004 and 2008. He says that there was a fair amount of criticism this time, but definitely not as much as there was of Bush's inauguration in 2004.

I imagine one reason it got more play last time is that the pols (i.e. members of the house) were taking part in the criticism, which fed the media fire. This time, most of the Republicans must have calculated that it wouldn't be worth it to criticize the high price tag, and the media by themselves didn't do that much with it.