Today history was made. Senator Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States. The first African-American President in American history. It’s fitting that he was sworn in using the same bible Abe Lincoln used considering the fact that its Lincoln who emancipated the slaves.
He took over office with a 78% approval rating which is probably the highest approval rating of any President elect starting a 1st term in office. Bush on the other hand left office with the highest disapproval rating of any President in history of 71%. Over 2 million people gathered on the National Mall mostly to celebrate Obama’s inauguration, but partly also to celebrate Bush’s departure that couldn’t be hasty enough.
I watched much of the inauguration today while holding my son in my lap who fascinating with the TV, would watch anything from porn to cartoons with the same focused interest and curiosity. Of course I’ve never watched porn with my son in the room. In fact it may be hard to believe but I don’t watch porn at all. I was just making a point here, but I digress. While watching the inauguration with my son, I looked at him and I wished that he could understand the significance of the events he was watching, that he was witnessing history in the making. Some day I’ll tell him that he watched the Obama inauguration with Daddy.
Today is a good day to be an American. Unfortunately that sentiment isn’t shared by the minority… those who supported McCain. It’s unfortunate that those people see the future with the same bleak outlook that Gore and Kerry supporters did in 2000 and 2004. I’ll never understand why those people put religious morality ahead of civil liberties. When the majority of voters care more about issues like gay marriages than they do about health care or education there’s something seriously fucking wrong. So evidently for those voters it’s alright if our nation is sick and stupid as long as gays can’t get married.
It’s a small thing but something that I found extremely irritating nevertheless is the fact that Obama opponents reveled in the use of Obama’s middle name of Hussein in order to attempt to slant his image, but Obama rose above that today at his inauguration by using his middle name as is tradition when taking the oath of office despite the fact that he was introduced at the opening of the ceremony as “Barack H. Obama”.
I for one am looking forward to the next 4 years and seeing what Obama can do for the United States and what changes he can bring about. But one thing for sure is for the first time in 8 years I have hope for this country and it’s future.
Lone Wolf