Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America—President Barack Obama

So O (Oh) is in and W (Dubya) is out.  I wish both men well.  Dubya as he’s led to pasture and Oh to carry on and clean up the mess that W had left behind.  Whatever . . .  my respect and best wishes to President Obama.   I mean that.  Honest, I do.

It’s true I’ve said a lot of negative things about Mr. Obama before, but that’s politics.  The shifting of loyalties is always constant.  As Winston Churchill once said, “In politics, there are no permanent friends, only temporary allies.”

To those who will yell at me and accuse me of having no core because of my change of loyalty, I am sorry, but I will give our new President, my new President, Barack HUSSEIN Obama, the benefit of the doubt and wait to see how he will govern.

A GREAT DAY FOR AMERICA: This past Tuesday was indeed a great day for America.  As tears streamed down faces of old and young alike, here and around the globe, the son of a white American woman and of a Black-African immigrant, ascended to his place of history as the first Black American to have become the 44th President of the United States.

As written and recorded by multitudes of journalists: “Taking the oath on the steps of a capitol built by slaves, Obama became the first African American to reach the pinnacle of American political life, fulfilling the promise of a nation born with the pledge that all men are created equal . . .”

That’s awesome. I think.  Only in America.  I am moved.  It’s a great day for America. 

I am proud of my adopted country.  I am proud of President Obama for breaking the barrier for all people of color … for breaking down racism and the insane hatred and intense dislike of people who are “different from White America.” 

I am not saying racism will cease in America from here on, but it’s the beginning.  A promise . . .
 

So this man who was called a Messiah, a rock star, a wannabe Abe Lincoln, an FDR, a JFK, and a Moses who parted the Red Sea, told America  and the world: “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real.  They are serious, and they are many … they will NOT be met easily or in a short span of time.  But know this America:

“They will be met!

“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.  On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.”

Right on.

He urged Americans to step up into a “new era of RESPONSIBILITY.”

He said: “Our challenges may be new.  The instruments with which we meet them may be new.  But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old.  These things are true.

“What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly . . . This is the price and the promise of citizenship.”

These words echoed President John F. Kennedy’s words, when he said during his own inauguration in 1961: “Ask not what your country can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your country.”

P resident Obama also told Americans:

“This is the source of our confidence, the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny,” he said.  “This is … why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”

Those words gave me goose bumps.

He promised policies to create jobs, and to his detractors who question his expensive plans to stimulate the economy, he said:

“Their memories are short … they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage . . .”

And to the Muslim World, he said:

“We seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.  To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you what you can build, NOT what you destroy.

“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the SILENCING OF DISSENT, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to UNCLENCH your fist.”

And to those who wish to destroy America, he warned, “You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”

It was an awesome speech, a promising speech, a somber speech, and these lines will forever be etched in my memory:

“Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested … we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered safely to future generations . . .”

It was like a Lincoln in tone.

To me, it was like a prayer.  JJ