Hello, Goodbye

Volume 2, Number 1

Hello, Mr. President, from the loyal opposition. While I expect that I will have many disagreements over important public policies advanced by the Obama administration, the Inauguration of Barack Obama is a day for history.

The sight of America’s first African American president taking the oath of office (clumsily administered by Chief Justice John Roberts) was rich with symbolism. President Obama took a long train route to the nation’s capitol, beginning in Springfield, Ill. where he served in the state legislature, retracing the route traveled by his political hero, Abraham Lincoln, when the nation’s 16th president (also once an Illinois state legislator) headed to Washington for his own Inaugural in 1861. Lincoln’s decision to abolish slavery in late 1862, wildly unpopular at the time, is perhaps history’s greatest act in the cause of freedom. Obama was sworn into office the day following the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. whose “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered as the culmination of the civil rights movement’s March on Washington in August, 1963, roughly 100 years following Lincoln’s historic Emancipation Proclamation.
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When Dr. King was delivering his speech for the ages, Barack Obama had just turned two years old and was living in Honolulu – about as far from Washington as one can get. He, of course, could have no idea that when King spoke the words – “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” – that he would be the one so blessedly judged.

Today, the dream became reality. Before today, when young black Americans were told that they could become anything they dreamed of, those dreams had limits. Today, there are no limits. Before today, young black men saw mainly athletes and rappers in the media as role models. Today, our president is their role model.

I commend Barack Obama, and his campaign team, for seizing history when the moment was presented. It is a testament to his, and their, vision, skill and dedication that they have won this historic victory. The odds of Barack Obama standing before the multitude gathered across the Mall in Washington were long. Their campaign ushered out the old guard and redefined political campaigning. He, and his team, have my admiration. As our nation’s leader, President Obama also has my loyalty. For though I am a conservative and a Republican, I am first an American.

This historic inauguration is also a testament to the American people and to the extraordinary genius and power of freedom. Americans put our faith in ballots, not bullets. In other countries, the victors would be assuming power in the midst of the funerals of the vanquished. In America, the new president is surrounded in equal measure by his allies and by those he has defeated. Power is transferred to the individual because democracy itself is bigger than the individual. I count my blessings that my forbearers had the courage to leave their homes in their native lands and emigrate to America. I am the beneficiary of their sacrifice and vision.

I was awestruck by the turnout of support in Washington for President Obama’s inauguration. Over two million people crowded the Mall, clamoring for a chance to experience history in the making. The news cameras recorded their faces – many with tears streaming down their cheeks. The joy they feel in their hearts is bursting.

Now, President Obama and his team must turn to governing. The people on the Mall, and across the country, have enormously high expectations. They want the country out of war, the economy fixed, health care provided, schools improved, the environment cleaned, prosperity restored. Soaring speeches will one day ring hollow unless the change President Obama promised is actually delivered. He carries the hopes and dreams of the country on his shoulders. He says that he will deliver, and that is his challenge. If he does, he will be revered by history and enjoy the admiration of a grateful nation. If he does not, he will learn that the only thing that motivates the country more than hope and expectation is when their hopes and expectations are crushed.

Good luck, Mr. President. I will call them as I see them as you govern, but I wish you well.

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Good bye, Mr. President. Former President George W. Bush left Washington with his reputation and record in tatters, but with his integrity intact. Perhaps history will be kinder to President Bush than have been the commentators of today, me included, who shake their heads in disappointment. President Bush leaves the nation with a $1.2 trillion deficit. The nation is at war. Our economy is turmoil. Many, but not all, of the causes of these conditions can be laid at the feet of the Bush Administration. President Bush’s policies have wreaked havoc with the Republican Party, abandoning long-held principles for short term political objectives. We lost control of the Congress, and then the presidency itself. Worse, we lost the faith of the American people in our ability to govern effectively. It will take a good long while to recapture that faith.

Still, for all his failings as a president, we owe George W. Bush an enormous debt of gratitude for the steadfast courage and leadership he provided the nation in the face of the biggest challenge to democracy in a generation, the terrorist attack of 9/11. I was in awe of his calm determination not to let the terrorists win. He led with grace, distinction and resoluteness during that critical period in American history. His actions had purpose. They were swift, yet measured. And they were largely successful. He made mistakes, certainly, but he made them honestly. He sought no personal advantage. And he engaged in no scandalous personal conduct.

Good bye, Mr. President, and good luck in your future endeavors.

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Comments

[Chuck Yung]

Wonderfully written but incorrect. Blame cannot be laid on the feet of Bush for the many failures of the Republican Party! He warned Congress of impending doom over the loose lending. He kept our Army strong and helped defend each citizens right to bear arms. While Republican Congressmen and Senators were compiling the the most scurrilous criminal record in modern American history for graft, corruption, greed and avarice, Bush kept us safe. While the radical left was working to destroy traditional family marriage Mr. Bush was helping feed, educate and train millions of Africans in Africa so they could provide for their own families in Africa. The list could go on and on. Please don't sycophant that favorite leftie dirge that all is sick in America in any degree solely because not all is right with America. Obama's tyranny from the left will soon be felt and if we Conservatives band together now and forgo our traditional bickering, form a New Contract with America balanced on conservative freedom we will have the opportunity to give the lefties as big a spanking as we did to Carter and the Congress under Clinton.

[Richard Glaub]

Good column, Frank!