Barack Obama's Inauguration Day

I wanted today to be like any other Inauguration Day. Welcome a new President, and wish him well. I wanted to say that this is something we as a nation have done every 4 or so years for 44 men. I wanted to feel indifferent, even upset, because a guy that is nearly my political opposite takes the oath of office.

But it isn't like any other day. I don't feel indifferent. Even though race is a non-issue for most people in the U.S. nowadays, inaugurating a black man as President of The United States of America is a big freaking deal. It is the absolute culmination of Madison's dream. It was the reason he phrased the Constitution as he did, and refused to define slaves.
It is the realization of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. It is the fantasy come reality of those oppressed by Jim Crow.

This one time the U.S.A. will show the world that a nation of mixed people, one without a class structure, one without a monarchy, one without warlords, one without regard for race, stands together as the son of a divorced immigrant from the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder assumes the most powerful position in the world.

Today is a victory for freedom. Today is the reason all those men died on the Union side of the American Civil War. Today I can not help but join with the masses in utter hero worship. Today I look at Barack Obama as a symbol of what America can be. Today is a great day.

I am proud to be an American. Many others today will feel the same pride, some for the first time.
Barack has said that he stands for hope. That is true. Today I hope against hope that those who have never felt included in what the U.S.A. stands for now feel included. Today I hope that those people who scoff when I talk about freedom, look upon that man while he takes the oath, and believe. I hope that after today, people look at their hyphenated American name and think, I don't need that qualifier anymore.

I hope.


Go get 'em!!!!