Best of Times; Worst of Times

To steal from Charles Dickens: It is the best of times, it is the worst of times.

Our military is over stretched, bogged down in two wars. Our wounded come back to depleted health services, told the rules have changed and we no longer care for our warriors.

The world questions our values. They are shocked we torture. They cannot believe our arsenal has killed a million innocent Iraqis and left another four million homeless. What happened to the America they idealized?

Fraud and corruption are allowed to run rampant. Pensions and savings are stolen. The world is going bankrupt. Breadwinners lose their jobs. One in five have no health insurance, half are under insured. The rich get tax breaks and government handouts. The poor get evicted.

We poison our water, air, food, and even the toys we give our children. Our babies die at twice the rate the rest of the industrial planet endures.

Those are but a few of the burdens President Obama will face when he takes over tomorrow as President of the United States. It is a daunting task. His predecessor unleashed a tsunami upon the world that sets civilization back for years if not decades.

Out of ashes the phoenix rises.

I have no idea how well Obama will do. He has a challenging task ahead, but the whole world is excited and so hopeful.

Tomorrow, the United States will have it’s first Black President. For one shining moment, on November 4th, we put our racial prejudice aside. For a nation that waited half a century longer than Europe and South America to abandon slavery, that is no small accomplishment. Racism is not over. We have not seen an end to hate crimes and our ears have not heard the last “nigger” joke. But we have turned a corner.

This evening, Obama is dining with McCain, a fellow American he sought advice from (and took) for some of his appointments. Decades of partisan divisiveness begun by Nixon and perfected by Rove/Bush is being replaced by a non-partisan spirit we have not seen in decades.

Raised by a mother who believed in education and devoted her life to serving the poor, Barack gave up high paying corporate jobs hoping he could help troubled youth. Tomorrow Barack Hussein Obama will bring those same values to our government as he is sworn in as our 44th President. He is choosing people to run agencies based on their education and experience, not friendships or partisan politics. Scientists, not corporate lobbyists, are being selected to run agencies like the EPA. Obama will replace secrecy with openness and candor.

Obama promises a new beginning with people running our government who believe in service. Unlike the Bush family with their long history of using government to line their pockets, Obama comes from a tradition where government is to serve the people. That is why America voted for Obama


Tomorrow will be the largest gathering ever in Washington D.C. It will be larger than the two previous largest gatherings combined. Those were the Civil Rights march when Martin Luther King Jr.’s delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech and the march against the Vietnam war. Those gatherings were to protest injustices. This gathering brings people together to celebrate a new beginning.

This celebration will reach well beyond the parties in Washington D.C. People will be celebrating all over the U.S. I have been invited to several celebrations and will attend at least two. And for the first time ever, Africa, Europe, and Asia will celebrate with us. For one day, we will try to blot out thoughts of war, a poisoned planet, and economic collapse from our minds. Tomorrow is hope. Tomorrow is the best of times.