LJ Inauguration Day Post #244,193,698
...or something like that. ;)
First off, my apologies to any still-disappointed conservative/McCain voters out there - seeing all this OMGOMGness can't be easy, but I'd like to think most of you can or will eventually be able to bring yourselves to express the sentiment of John Wayne, similar to one I expressed eight and then four years ago with the swearings-in of Bush: "I didn't vote for him, but he is my President, and I hope he does a good job."
Now, to what I really want to talk about.
I won't miss George W. Bush in the slightest. I'm glad I'm to the point where I can be counting down to the end of his Presidency in minutes. For that reason alone I'd be thrilled for the election of Barack Obama. But it's also because for the first time in my admittedly short life, I'm excited about a President. I was only a toddler under Reagan, though from what I've read and heard from my mother, I'm not sure I'd want to remember him. The only thing I remember about Bush Sr. was a lot of jokes about Dan Quayle and being worried/unhappy about Desert Storm. I was reasonably happy under Clinton - that's what she said :P - but still too young to really be politically aware for much of his term (except for the Lewinsky crap, alas). The bulk of my political awareness has come under the days of Bush Jr., and needless to say he has inspired strong political emotions in me - but most definitely not ones of joy. In Obama I see someone who, while not the wand-waving miracle worker I still suspect some see him as, will be able to restore and heal at least some of the damage I see the Bush presidency as having caused, not just here in America but around the world. Obama has inspired a lot of people both here and abroad, and that alone brings me a lot of hope: that he's made people want to be directly involved in making this country a better one. I sincerely hope he doesn't squander that goodwill, and that that inspiration for citizens to do good and be involved lasts far beyond his inauguration speech.
I'm not black, and I didn't vote for Obama because of his skin color or any sense of "white guilt." (Though I don't doubt in the slightest that his racial background only helped his professed message of change: the sheer visual of him assuming the Oval Office makes that "change" extremely, extremely tangible.) I voted for him because I believed him to be the best choice, and as of this moment I still stand by that. However, I'm so thrilled to see the joy in much of the black community about this event, especially those who spent their lives growing up in and fighting in the era of the civil rights movement, fighting so there could be a moment like this. NPR broadcast MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech yesterday, and I actually felt tears in my eyes at a couple of points, listening to that speech at this point in history. There are many today who remember what it was like during the days of segregation, whose parents or grandparents were slaves, who will get to watch a black man take the oath of the highest office in the land.
I'm so envious of those of you who have made it to Washington today, and I wish I could be there with you. I'm sitting here at work, and if possible will be watching the swearing-in live streaming on someplace like MSNBC.com. If that damn phone rings at 11:00 my time (12:00 DC time), it's going to voice mail. It can wait.
Even here in Conservative Central, there are burgeoning signs of pride and excitement about today. I've seen Obama signs reappear in people's windows and yards, people venturing out in Obama t-shirts, and the leasing agent at my new apartment complex (yes, I'm moving, a month from today!), when asked by my mother whether she was looking forward to today, began enthusiastically gushing about Obama and what she hoped he would accomplish.
There does seem to be a huge air of serendipity about this whole event: our first African American President is being sworn in the day after what would have been Martin Luther King's 80th birthday. He's going to be sworn in on the Bible of another son of Illinois whose memorial will be standing not far away, the first President who first began paving the way for someone like Obama to assume the highest office in the land.
Of course I hope for all our sakes that Obama does well by this nation as its Commander in Chief. It makes me proud that I've lived to see such a historical inaugration, but I'm even more proud that if I have children, they will be growing up in a country where having a non-white President won't be such a novelty as it is for us.
First off, my apologies to any still-disappointed conservative/McCain voters out there - seeing all this OMGOMGness can't be easy, but I'd like to think most of you can or will eventually be able to bring yourselves to express the sentiment of John Wayne, similar to one I expressed eight and then four years ago with the swearings-in of Bush: "I didn't vote for him, but he is my President, and I hope he does a good job."
Now, to what I really want to talk about.
I won't miss George W. Bush in the slightest. I'm glad I'm to the point where I can be counting down to the end of his Presidency in minutes. For that reason alone I'd be thrilled for the election of Barack Obama. But it's also because for the first time in my admittedly short life, I'm excited about a President. I was only a toddler under Reagan, though from what I've read and heard from my mother, I'm not sure I'd want to remember him. The only thing I remember about Bush Sr. was a lot of jokes about Dan Quayle and being worried/unhappy about Desert Storm. I was reasonably happy under Clinton - that's what she said :P - but still too young to really be politically aware for much of his term (except for the Lewinsky crap, alas). The bulk of my political awareness has come under the days of Bush Jr., and needless to say he has inspired strong political emotions in me - but most definitely not ones of joy. In Obama I see someone who, while not the wand-waving miracle worker I still suspect some see him as, will be able to restore and heal at least some of the damage I see the Bush presidency as having caused, not just here in America but around the world. Obama has inspired a lot of people both here and abroad, and that alone brings me a lot of hope: that he's made people want to be directly involved in making this country a better one. I sincerely hope he doesn't squander that goodwill, and that that inspiration for citizens to do good and be involved lasts far beyond his inauguration speech.
I'm not black, and I didn't vote for Obama because of his skin color or any sense of "white guilt." (Though I don't doubt in the slightest that his racial background only helped his professed message of change: the sheer visual of him assuming the Oval Office makes that "change" extremely, extremely tangible.) I voted for him because I believed him to be the best choice, and as of this moment I still stand by that. However, I'm so thrilled to see the joy in much of the black community about this event, especially those who spent their lives growing up in and fighting in the era of the civil rights movement, fighting so there could be a moment like this. NPR broadcast MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech yesterday, and I actually felt tears in my eyes at a couple of points, listening to that speech at this point in history. There are many today who remember what it was like during the days of segregation, whose parents or grandparents were slaves, who will get to watch a black man take the oath of the highest office in the land.
I'm so envious of those of you who have made it to Washington today, and I wish I could be there with you. I'm sitting here at work, and if possible will be watching the swearing-in live streaming on someplace like MSNBC.com. If that damn phone rings at 11:00 my time (12:00 DC time), it's going to voice mail. It can wait.
Even here in Conservative Central, there are burgeoning signs of pride and excitement about today. I've seen Obama signs reappear in people's windows and yards, people venturing out in Obama t-shirts, and the leasing agent at my new apartment complex (yes, I'm moving, a month from today!), when asked by my mother whether she was looking forward to today, began enthusiastically gushing about Obama and what she hoped he would accomplish.
There does seem to be a huge air of serendipity about this whole event: our first African American President is being sworn in the day after what would have been Martin Luther King's 80th birthday. He's going to be sworn in on the Bible of another son of Illinois whose memorial will be standing not far away, the first President who first began paving the way for someone like Obama to assume the highest office in the land.
Of course I hope for all our sakes that Obama does well by this nation as its Commander in Chief. It makes me proud that I've lived to see such a historical inaugration, but I'm even more proud that if I have children, they will be growing up in a country where having a non-white President won't be such a novelty as it is for us.