I want a new day and age

On January 20th, the administration we've been waiting to be rid of finally left.(In the words of Chandler Bing: ding dong, the psycho's gone!) And now, we usher in the administration we've been (im)patiently waiting to step into the Oval Office since November 4th 2008. Thank god.

Along with millions of people, I witnessed (via TV) the inauguration of President Obama. While I missed the actual swearing in of Obama and Biden (I heard Chief Justice Roberts made a gaffe with the oath - ha ha, stupid Republican) thanks to the three hour time difference, I still witnessed Obama's speech and soaked in the hope emulated through his words. 'Hope' is, of course, a ubiquitous adjective used to describe anything related to Obama; however, there is no word more appropriate to use at this moment. In his speech, President Obama touched on all of our problems and called for the country to come together in hopes of fixing the issues that will take years to be solved. He spoke to the American people as one - not as a divided crew of Democrats or Republicans. He spoke to those who didn't vote for him or the ones who never bothered to vote. He voiced our concerns and let the country (and the world) know that this is the dawn of a new era. The era of 'Yes We Can': Yes we can overcome this economic hardship. Yes we can successfully pull out of Iraq in the next 18 months. Yes we can jumpstart the green collar industry. Yes we can successfully update our health and education systems. Yes we can reform immigration and social security policy. And more importantly, yes we can be taken seriously as a country once again.

Today history was made in so many ways, but most of all today brought the beginning of a new American patriotism. As I watched Obama give his speech, I felt proud to be an American for the first time in eight years. As a country, we are so behind when it comes to equality and open-mindedness; however, electing Obama opened a new door for the culture of America. His election opened a door welcoming all us former haters into the reformed idealism of what America stands for. Our country needed a strong leader and Obama came to our rescue. He came to the rescue of our government and for our people. This is an administration I can stand behind. This is something I can be proud of.

Tomorrow, the honeymoon will be over and it will be time to get to work. I don't know about you, but I've been waiting for January 21st more so than January 20th. The 21st is the first time in eight years when we won't have to deal with a bumbling idiot as the highest representative of this nation. In a few hours from now, we will get to deal with a president who can speak in coherent sentences and present logical ideas.

Tomorrow Obama will be tested and the words he speaks will be taken as serious ideas. His idea of a stimulus package a few weeks ago was attacked by Democrats and that was the end of it. He didn't have clout yet so we didn't have to listen to anything he said. Now, he has clout. Things he says are now up for grabs. We can either say "no" or "yay" to his ideas. Here's to hoping there are more 'yays' than 'nays' conveyed after Obama tosses around ideas in meetings dealing with the two biggest issues facing the U.S. right now - the economy and the war in Iraq.

And while Obama deals with our governmental issues, lets just remember how lovely January 20th was and never lose sight of what it means to have Barack Obama as our 44th president.


And to celebrate the occassion of the change from tryrant Republicanism to hopeful Democratism is a verse from a song that represents the days, weeks, months and years ahead:
Bless your body, bless your soul
Pray for peace and self-control
I've gotta believe it's worth it
Without a victory I'm so sanctified and free
Or maybe I'm just mistaken
Lesson learned and the wheels keep turning
-the Killers, The World We Live In