tem2 (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} tem2) wrote,@ 2009-01-20 10:41:00 |
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WOTD: Inauguration
Today's word of the day is: Inauguration, a new beginning.
I'd be there in person, if I could, if there were room for another person to stand anywhere on the Mall. But from what I can see on CNN, the entire city of Washington D.C. looks to be as crowded as a rush-hour subway train.
This is the most amazing day in the life of our democratic system. Today one President willingly gives up power to another. Think about that for a moment. George W. Bush has spent eight years getting comfortable with being Commander in Chief of the most powerful military force in history, about a dozen intelligence agencies (that we know of), the planet's wealthiest central bank, embassies and offices around the world, and a small army of bureaucrats and federal workers. Oh yeah, and he's also keeper of the launch codes to a nuclear arsenal that could kick-start Armageddon with the press of a button.
Can you imagine how difficult must it be to step aside from all that power, privilege, and prestige? And how humbling it must be to stand on the other side of the lectern, to be the man inheriting the office with a few words and a hand on Abe Lincoln's old bible? With the daunting problems facing our country and our world, and with all the expectations people have for him, it must be a struggle for Barack Obama to fight the urge to run away and hide. I'd run away and hide, if it were me, and they wouldn't find me until my four years were up.
The fact that a smooth transition of presidential power can ever occur is a genuine miracle.
And as a bonus, we get all the history embodied by the election of Barack Obama. A mere 146 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, just six generations after the abolition of slavery, the voters of America have elected a president who is only 50% Caucasian. We have come so far so fast!
Okay, I lied. It's actually a painful embarrassment how long it's taken to get to where we are, how much farther we have to go, and how much our societal advancement has been impeded by knuckle-dragging yahoos who refuse to acknowledge that nobody is better than anybody else just because of their skin color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or cultural identity.
But today is a big step forward that we can all be proud about. It's a day I've been looking forward to for eight long years, in one way, and my entire life in another way.
WAHOO!!!
Today's word of the day is: Inauguration, a new beginning.
I'd be there in person, if I could, if there were room for another person to stand anywhere on the Mall. But from what I can see on CNN, the entire city of Washington D.C. looks to be as crowded as a rush-hour subway train.
This is the most amazing day in the life of our democratic system. Today one President willingly gives up power to another. Think about that for a moment. George W. Bush has spent eight years getting comfortable with being Commander in Chief of the most powerful military force in history, about a dozen intelligence agencies (that we know of), the planet's wealthiest central bank, embassies and offices around the world, and a small army of bureaucrats and federal workers. Oh yeah, and he's also keeper of the launch codes to a nuclear arsenal that could kick-start Armageddon with the press of a button.
Can you imagine how difficult must it be to step aside from all that power, privilege, and prestige? And how humbling it must be to stand on the other side of the lectern, to be the man inheriting the office with a few words and a hand on Abe Lincoln's old bible? With the daunting problems facing our country and our world, and with all the expectations people have for him, it must be a struggle for Barack Obama to fight the urge to run away and hide. I'd run away and hide, if it were me, and they wouldn't find me until my four years were up.
The fact that a smooth transition of presidential power can ever occur is a genuine miracle.
And as a bonus, we get all the history embodied by the election of Barack Obama. A mere 146 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, just six generations after the abolition of slavery, the voters of America have elected a president who is only 50% Caucasian. We have come so far so fast!
Okay, I lied. It's actually a painful embarrassment how long it's taken to get to where we are, how much farther we have to go, and how much our societal advancement has been impeded by knuckle-dragging yahoos who refuse to acknowledge that nobody is better than anybody else just because of their skin color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or cultural identity.
But today is a big step forward that we can all be proud about. It's a day I've been looking forward to for eight long years, in one way, and my entire life in another way.
WAHOO!!!
