Inaugural thoughts
Among other things, today was the first day of spring semester classes at the Humphrey. My first class of the day is from 9:45 to 11:00, but the prof let us out after only 20 minutes so we could all watch the formal ceremony in the auditorium. As you might expect at a policy school, the room filled up quickly and there was a lot anticipation and excitement as the proceedings got underway. As I sat watching memories came flooding back of election night 2000, where about a ten minute walk from where I was today I stayed up until 4:00 AM wondering if I hadn't stumbled into a bad dream. Well that bad dream is finally over, and though we unfortunately had to endure the self-important blathering of one Rick Warren for a few minutes, I am on the whole overjoyed that we once again have a chief executive that knows how to use the English language. I did catch the "and non-believers" that appeared in the address, but will reserve judgment until I see whether or not Obama actually seeks the input of the Secular Coalition for America or its member organizations on policy issues that we are concerned about. While I wish he had echoed Ford, it would not have really been accurate since the national nightmare, at least in the economic sense, will probably go on for quite some time. Nonetheless I am more optimistic about this country's future than I have been since before that late night in Middlebrook.