Saturday, January 31, 2009

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

God Bless America

As I write this, the President-Elect is mere moments from being sworn in.

I am fully prepared to give the same level of support and optimism to Obama, as the democrats did to Bush.

Er... actually, I want Obama to succeed.

It is a great day for our nation, from a historic perspective. Obama, an African American, will be sworn in under oath on the same Bible that Abe Lincoln used in 1865. Pretty amazing stuff.

I pray for our new President's safety and success.

I also hope those who are infatuated with him, don't crumble in despair when it hits them that he is merely a human being faced with one of the toughest jobs on the planet. As leader of the free world, he will make mistakes. Big ones.

He will not fill your gas tank. He will not pay your mortgage.

In fact, one of the things I really admire about Obama - and goes largely un-highlighted by the press and his supporters; he pushes responsibility and accountability of the individual. True, he is a hopeless liberal, who currently has plans to expand the government even beyond our previous president (who spent more on failed social programs that the previous four administrations combined), but he also will stand before a black congregation and call for fathers of the community to stop abandoning their kids. I have faith that more of the latter and less of the former Obama will emerge as he realizes that the Presidency is not tantamount to playing "wish fairy" for the loudest complainers in the social strata.

To me, the biggest surprise, or you could say, elephant in the room is that Obama's America, will actually, be pretty similar to George W. Bush's. I laugh at the deluded folks who are saying things like "Now, I feel like I can come back to my country." Newsflash; your country has always been here - and will remain long after our current President departs.

This inauguration still has a prayer, before and after - this time led by a right wing pro-life pastor of all people. We still fire massive cannons after the oath of office is taken - and I have no doubt that Obama's speech will contain a warning to our enemies that amounts to "You mess with us, we will kill you." Some things about the Presidency will in fact, never change. At the end of the day, he still has to man up and do his job.

I am hopeful, but not deluded. I am, right now, choking up at Obama's speech. Our country faces challenges, and no one man can solve them. We are indebted to our country, and the ideals it was built on. I may disagree with Obama on many of his views - but I can say I have faith that he will fight to defend us from tyranny, and preserve our way of life.

God Bless America.