President Obama
Last night, the rain started turning over to snow. It turned out that this was the start of what is, for this area, a major winter storm that is supposed to last through the day. Governor Beverly Perdue has declared a state of emergency. Thus, everyone has a wonderful excuse to stay indoors and watch the inauguration festivities.
I am overwhelmed about what today means, both for our country and for so many people. One of the networks had interviews with two of the freedom riders from the 1960's. Another talked with the daughter of President Lyndon Johnson who, in many ways, set the stage for today with the signing of the Civil Rights Act, even though he knew it would tear the Democratic Party apart for a generation.
And then you have to think of Medgar Evars and all of the others who died to make it possible that one day "this nation would live up to the true meaning of its creed." We still haven't totally achieved that; there is still a lot of work to be done. But today is a huge step forward.
In a striking symbol of transitions of power in the modern world, a few minutes after 12PM, George W. Bush's website came down and the new Whitehouse.gov site of President Barack Obama's administration went up. The first blog post was ready to go precisely at 12:01 PM.
Former President Bush (wow, it feels good to say that!) boarded a helicopter for Andrews Air Force Base, where one last flight in that familiar blue and white presidential plane awaited him: a flight to Midland, Texas and home. Today, the plane would use the call sign "Special Air Mission 2800", instead of the familiar "Air Force One", since the plane no longer carried the President of the United States.
I am overwhelmed about what today means, both for our country and for so many people. One of the networks had interviews with two of the freedom riders from the 1960's. Another talked with the daughter of President Lyndon Johnson who, in many ways, set the stage for today with the signing of the Civil Rights Act, even though he knew it would tear the Democratic Party apart for a generation.
And then you have to think of Medgar Evars and all of the others who died to make it possible that one day "this nation would live up to the true meaning of its creed." We still haven't totally achieved that; there is still a lot of work to be done. But today is a huge step forward.
In a striking symbol of transitions of power in the modern world, a few minutes after 12PM, George W. Bush's website came down and the new Whitehouse.gov site of President Barack Obama's administration went up. The first blog post was ready to go precisely at 12:01 PM.
Former President Bush (wow, it feels good to say that!) boarded a helicopter for Andrews Air Force Base, where one last flight in that familiar blue and white presidential plane awaited him: a flight to Midland, Texas and home. Today, the plane would use the call sign "Special Air Mission 2800", instead of the familiar "Air Force One", since the plane no longer carried the President of the United States.