I hope that you were all able to watch the Inauguration today. Our school watched it in a general assembly and it was very exciting. Our lone African American teacher came to stage to apologize for not having believed. "I shall eat crow and I shall eat it for a long time." he said. He had told his classes last spring that he would not see an African American elected president in his lifetime. I think it is easy to underestimate what this means to the African American community, I know that I have. As for me, I thought President Obama's speech was not at all his best, but I was impressed with his call to the Muslim world, his defiance of terrorists, his inclusion of non-believers and his quoting of Washington. The crowd on the mall with the visibly electric excitement throughout the throngs was infectious. Now to work, to work all.
What did you think?
8 comments:
I have some faint hope that he will moderate his liberalness to some extent, but I don't have high expectations of that. He may end up doing a good job. I don't have any expectations of such from the Congress though. In fact, I think Obama may very likely outshine the Congress (which really won't be hard to do considering the bunch we have in Congress now). His chances of re-election in four years will likely depend very greatly on how he handles the current economic situation, so he starts out in rather unfavorable circumstances that could very well worsen no matter what he does.
We watch it from beginning to end live here in Belgium. We liked his talk we know that he can talk the talk, now let see if he can walk the walk.
I wish him well. Like Alan, I fear the congress the most. I feared them when Bush was in office. I think people will see that it is the Congress/Senate that is more responsible for the crisis's (pl) that we are in than the office of the president. This should vindicate Bush in some aspects. I think we will find that it was not so much the president's policies that got us into a mess and it will not be the new presidents policies that will get us out of it. Congress/Senate needs to change.
I am cautiously hopeful in Obama, and very willing to give him the benefit of the doubt...but I am worried about his liberlness also. Like Alan said, I hope he can moderate it a bit. I agree with Brian and Alan about the congress/senete. They worry me, they bother me! I don't trust them as a whole.
We have a missionary from the South who said, talking about Obama, "I hope that he will not get shot." Then he explained that there are still people in the South that are very racist. The thought had never crossed my mind and I was surprised to hear it. What are your thoughts?
The thought never crossed my mind. In my view, 95% or more of America is way beyond racism. Of course, I have never lived in the South, but there may be a few backward thinking folk. Nevertheless, I strongly doubt Obama will be ever assassinated. Our Secret Service has vastly improved since Reagan. It just won't happen.
I am very excited to have President Obama lead our country. I have trust in him and think he will bring good changes to this country. Yesterday was indeed was very special historical day.
There are still wild-eyed racists out there as well as very subtle ones. However, I don't fear assassination too much. But I do not underestimate people's prejudices given that I am subject to them as a gay person. There are wackos that attack LDS churches and deface Jewish burial spots.
As for your collective concern with Congress, I assume your concerns are those that you have already expressed at some point in our past conversations.
I think (and personally hope) for some real changes but I don't think you need to fear anything radical.
Improvement to health care delivery is an obvious area that needs attention. A new approach to Iraq and Afghanistan would also be welcome. As for tons of money for public works, that makes more sense to me that endlessly bailing out various sectors of our economy and nationalizing our banks.
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