I'm back, just in time for the final 24 hour countdown. I began the day-count almost two years ago, when it was over 600. It seemed to move so slowly. Then suddenly one day last fall, that refrigerator magnet with "01-20-09" shifted meaning. No longer was it the long-awaited day we would finally be rid of george bush; it was now Barack Obama's first day as President of the United States.
So far, the transition and the inauguration events seem nearly flawless. It's still hard to imagine the full impact of this historic occasion -- the first person other than a white male ever to be sworn in as our president: An African-American man, whose wife's ancestors were slaves, will be our First Family and will live in the White House that was built with slave labor. And that excitement is hightened 100-fold by the fact that we're replacing a very limited man with a truly gifted one, and going from 22% approval rating to nearly 80%.
A sidelight to tomorrow's significance will be that, mercifully, we won't be bombarded any longer with the "exit interviews" and the faux-victory laps of george bush and dick cheney. If any network wants to show re-runs, I suggest they play them on the comedy channels.
Asked if he had made any mistakes, Cheney did fault himself for having overestimated the ability of the Iraqi people to "bounce back" after the U.S. invasion, blaming the chaos on years of oppression under Saddam Hussein.
Hmm: his only mistake was in being let down by other people -- and it's all Saddam's fault anyway. No mention of his ignorance of the ethnic and religious rivalries that were inevitably going to make it nearly impossible to come together as a unified young democracy. I can think of a few other mistakes, some of which I believe are prosecutable as war crimes, others as impeachable offenses. But that's for another day.
For today, and tomorrow, let the sun shine in -- and keep the Obamas safe.
Ralph
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Things do seem to be moving along well on the national level. Locally, in NC, there are some aspects of the inauguration celebration I could do without. For example, places that held open meetings in the past for Obama supporters are now charging a fee if supporters wish to gather together and celebrate. There's something unseemly about asking people who have given their time and money to pay $3 for the privilege of watching a TV screen with other supporters.
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