YES WE CAN, YES WE DID AND YES WE WILL!!!

Today, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as our nation's forty-fourth President of the United States. Nearly two million people packed themselves into the National Mall to hear him take the oath of office and give his inaugural address. For many, it was a day of celebration and happiness. For me, it was one of the proudest days of my life.
It's been a while since I've last posted. For reasons I'll get into later, I took a four-month hiatus. While much-needed, there has been much I've wanted to say and yet in the last four months, my interests lay elsewhere. I volunteered for Obama's campaign along with Congressman Jerry McNerney and my father's re-election bid. All three were wildly successful and now today is the start of a new era in leadership and American vision.
The view of the Mall was breathtaking this morning. I ran downstairs after waking up - no snoozing this morning - to turn on the television. Throngs of excited Americans of all ages, colors and backgrounds were packing themselves into the closest available spaces of lawn to be a part of history. I sure wish I could have been there but at fifteen degrees, I do appreciate the warmth of a toasty classroom. People danced, sang, waved banners and signs and hugged their children, hoping they too would remember this momentous occasion. I did all I could at times not to cry in front of my students, though there was a lot to cry about: the first presidential candidate I've wanted to win doing so; the excitement about the election and the Obama team running such a wonderful campaign; the anticipation for change and the cathartic release of pain from the last eight years of governmental failure. My loathing of George Bush contains volumes in this blog. Even since my last postings, Bush did all he could to remain detached and clueless, from the financial collapse of the economy, the Russia-Georgia War and the Israeli pummeling of Palestinian civilians in its Gaza border war of this month. Knowing Bush is gone does not free us from his disastrous "leadership" as it will take decades to repair so many things. And yet, and yet: today is the day of the greatest power shift in the last generation and people are demanding that Obama push for monumental change. A new, progressive New/Fair Deal is sorely needed and wanted by so many. Obama needs to use the power of the federal government to shake our institutions up and remind all Americans that power can only be used for the benefit of the many. That government is the power of the people and its efforts are to be for the people and that our leaders are to lead and govern all of us, not just those that support them. Today must truly be seen as a new birth of freedom, freedom for our governmental institutions to work again and for the relationship between a strong government and a free people to be re-established. I'm excted to see President Obama lead the nation in a hopeful and postive direction to reach his and our goals for change.