July 8, 2008 - Yong Ji Road in northern Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan.
I admit it, I got home from work and then stayed up all night watching the inauguration on CNN. I was moved and proud as a Georgia peach to watch Barack Obama become the 44th U.S. president. Not just because of the historicity, but because I have a lot of confidence in him. I think he's going to be one of the great U.S. presidents because of his acts and what he inspires, not just because he's the first African-American president.
He is already lifting the level of discourse in the U.S. With Bush, whenever there was a debate following an Act of Bush, I usually rolled my eyes and changed the channel, annoyed that whatever was being debated was at such a low level.
Already, after Obama's first major speech on the economic crisis last week, and today about Guantanamo Bay, both were followed by debates where I could listen to both sides intently and figure out what I agreed with and disagreed with, what were the important issues presented on either side.
We can be a thinker's country again. No more, "We're gonna invade Iraq, m'kay? They got weapons of mass destruction, m'kay? Weapons of mass destruction are bad. So we're gonna invade, see?"
iTunes soundtrack:
1. Cinderella Search (Marillion)
2. Body Movin' (The Beastie Boys)
3. Shining Light (10,000 Maniacs)
4. Excerpt from 'Lamplight Symphony' (live) (Kansas)
5. Secret Heart (Feist)
6. Who Can It Be Now? (Men at Work)
7. Does Your Heart Beat Slower (June of 44)
8. Tuff Luck (Seam)
9. Sad Songs (Say So Much) (Elton John)
10. Happy Ending (Makihara Noriyuki)
3 comments:
i couldn't agree more. after watching his inaugural speech, i looked at whit and said "it's so nice to have a president who is intelligent and actually knows how to give a speech." i think he's so inspiring, and i really think michelle will do great things too. i just feel bad cuz he's got a crazy mess to clean up after bush jr.
i forgot...cool photo btw!!! :)
thanks!
well, you know, ironically, without shrub, there might be no Obama. If Bush wasn't as bad as he was, who knows if the U.S. would've been ready to accept an African-American president.
At least he's not just spewing useless platitudes about how we're going to get through these problems, blah, blah, blah, but he's saying it's not going to be quick and easy, and he's getting ideas and dialogues started.
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