A New Hope

"We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." - Barack Obama


The day is here. The hours have ticked down on the Bush regime and a new hope has been brought to this country. Barack H. Obama has been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. I know that things will not magically get better now that we have an intelligent, competent, and thoughtful President who puts the American people first. But what I do know is that we are a step closer to making things better and now have a system that can make that happen. On the 21st my student loan bills will be just as high, my healthcare just as inadequate and my savings just as barren, but this new era of personal responsibility and functional government makes me hope that things will get better for everyone.

I watched online from my slingplayer, slinging MSNBC to my computer at work. I did set it to TiVo to watch later as well. There were so many people, it looked so many amazing. All those people in the freezing cold there to witness history. I read that it was the estimated 2 million.

The bible that Biden was sworn in was so huge. Did anyone else notice that? I recall that it was a family bible I think. When Obama came up I was so happy and nervous too. I thought it was a nice touch that he seemed nervous and stumbled on the oath a bit. He was then the President of the United States of America. (Actually officially at 12pm EST since the oath is ceremonial.) (Note: It has been pointed out that it was Chief Justice Roberts who screwed up the oath, not Obama. As one random internet person put it, "Roberts winging it without notes so represents the bush failed presidency. Improvised and botched. ")

I enjoyed his speech. Obama Inauguration Speech: FULL TEXT
I appreciated that he made the point that the challenges will not be met easily. It was very sobering and his message to the world was very powerful. There were many great lines, here are a few that I caught:
"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.."
"We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished."
"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them."


You have to check this out: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ Looks so very good.

Check out these images of webpages today: and so it is done .

Here is the video on YouTube.

goodbye