21 hours to go, and counting

Posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009, at 12:58 pm
Tags:barack obama, Politics

As of this moment, there are about twenty-one hours until 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on January 21, 2009, when this guy will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States:

And for the first time in nearly a decade, I’m finally going to be able to say, “I’m an American” without cringing. I’m sick of BushCorp, an administration more corrupt and more beholden to corporate interests than any we’ve seen in a very long time. While Bush may not have been the very worst President in the history of the United States of America (I personally believe that honor belongs to James Buchanan, under whose administration the nation quite literally fell apart), Bush’s role in the mess that our country is in now simply cannot be denied. I’m looking forward to a President and an administration which values the rule of law, and places at least some value on the Constitution and the values that made our nation great in the first place. I’m sick of a President whose interest in political promotion and whose grandstanding and pandering to right-wing special interest groups overshadowed any progress he could have made for our nation, both at home and abroad. I’m also just sick of a President who wouldn’t hesitate to fling our nation into wars which are unaffordable, morally unjustified, and politically disastrous.

I’m looking forward to a President who seems to act with integrity, and who understands the seriousness and the gravity of the position that he holds. Bush, for all his talk of how he was a “uniter” and “the decider” never quite grasped, in my opinion, just what it meant to be President. Obama hasn’t even been sworn in yet, but already he’s done more to restore the integrity and dignity of an office which got drowned in cowboy diplomacy and a President more suited to the frat house than to the White House.

Barack Obama won’t be the perfect President. From time to time, those of us who voted for him with the highest of hopes will be disappointed, and that disappointment will hurt. Some of us may even end up feeling betrayed.

Honestly, though, after what we’ve been through since Bush “won” the election in 2000, it’s hard to imagine that we could end up with anything worse.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 12:58 and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “21 hours to go, and counting”

1. Alexacutioner!! says:

   January 19, 2009 at 14:08

   I’m counting down, too.

   I saw a comment yesterday on Twitter, I believe, from some Twitteree I can’t remember. Oh wait, I just remembered. But I don’t know them personally so it doesn’t matter. Anyway, they said they were sick of Obama attaining “celebrity” status. As in, why does it matter what he did his entire vacation in Hawaii? Personally, I am thoroughly glad he’s achieved such a recognizable status and is doing so with class. Isn’t it about time we are more interested in what our president is up to rather than some cheap scandal on American Idol? I actually feel patriotic and find the man interesting in his own right, as someone who has actually achieved something of note and with purpose. Why does anyone give a crap’s ass about Joe the Plumber?? We need THIS kind of celebrity in our lives, someone smart, well-spoken, and admirable. Someone kids can look at and actually want to be like them and everyone feel it’s ok for them to desire that kind of achievement in their lives.

   I don’t know who made the correlation between Obama and some kind of “savior” figure, though I do feel they were terribly mistaken. I never once thought he could do no wrong or would be infallible. He’s human and he can only do so much, I’m just glad he’s willing and eager to take on the terrible mess that’s been made the past 8 years.

   Reply
   • Richard S. Crawford says:

     January 19, 2009 at 14:56

     I’m not entirely sure where the whole “Obama-as-savior” meme came from, but I think it has its origins in one of Hilary Clinton’s speeches and was promulgated by the McCain campaign.

     But I agree with you on Obama’s sense of class. I voted for him partially because he really did come across as a classy guy, and it’s time to get some of that back into the White House.

     Reply