Am I proud to be an American once again? For the last 25+ years I have, more often than not, been ashamed of my country. Oh, Clinton was a decent president, but even his foreign policy did some damage. It all began with Reagan, went downhill with Bush Sr., then into the shitter with Bush jr. as we all know.
But watching the inauguration this morning gave me such a renewed sense of what America is capable of. The America that my grandparents knew, before corporate greed took over. [Then again, maybe I'm just romanticizing a past I never knew - mom always talks about how oppressive the 50's were.] To have a multi-cultural highly educated intellectual (yet) who is not from the old moneyed ruling class make it to the White House changes everything. I’m still in shock that he made it to the top. It speaks volumes to what is still possible in America, and in very few other places. Our majority white country freely elected a black president – something no other democracy has ever done. Even progressive and multi-cultural Canada, Holland, the UK have never had a black person in such high office.
It’s been interesting watching the process from abroad. It seems the whole world is as excited as I am. From the local networks to all the world reports I see on CNN’s International Edition, it is clear the entire world views this as a new dawn.
Obama’s speech left me with tears streaming down my face. He is just so eloquent and inspirational. Then there is the fact that he wrote it himself and recited it in total, without once looking down. It’s a new dawn. Even the evil Rick Warren contained his bigotry; I was impressed that his invocation didn’t even hint at divisiveness. Of course all that God stuff got to me – so much for separation of church and state. But did you catch that Obama included us atheists in his speech? A first!
It was great seeing Aretha up there, but the poor girl can’t hit those notes anymore! On the other hand, I thought the performance by Perlman, Yo Yo, et al was beautiful. And I loved Michelle’s outfit.
Who knew that Obama was left-handed?
As Bill Maher said, “I take back every bad thing I ever said about the good old U.S.A. I feel like a hockey mom at the state fair getting felt up by Hank Williams Jr while fireworks go off and Jesus appears in my cotton candy.”
UPDATE: There is a lovely article here about how Obama’s election bodes well for the future of science, and how it is inextricably linked with democracy.
UPDATE 2: His first week in office has been phenomenal. My favorite quote thus far: “I told him [George Mitchell, Obama's Middle East envoy] to start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating.” Am I dreaming??
