Regardless of political stripe, whether blue or red at heart, whether your hopes are soaring high or your vision filled with fear & dread, today we are Americans, and we have the opportunity to celebrate again the grandeur of the American vision.
Today, as countless nations take up arms and parties, factions, & tribes seek power by annhiliation; as rulers & dictators take & hold their power by force, power, fear, & intimidation; as populations without choice, without hope, and without recourse for change move through life with heads bowed and spirits broken, we celebrate the peaceful transition of power.
In America, the dream lives on and is manifest in the inauguration of Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States of America. Chosen by the majority of Americans, my President assumes the immense responsibility of keeping watch over this, the greatest nation in the history of the world.
I disagree with much of what President Obama has stood for and supported throughout his legislative career. I distrust the associations he has kept, and at times I fear the direction he may take. Today, however, I salute my President and pray that he leads America to our greatest prosperity ever.
Today, I pray that he and his family be safe from harm, true to the task of leadership before them, that they always remember the weight of the American ideal, and that they live up to every nuance thereof.
The issues that divide will be ripe for discussion tomorrow. Today, however, without a shot being fired, without militia in the streets, and without organized domestic bloodshed, the first African-American man begins forging his place in history. His comparison’s will be to men like Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, and two Roosevelt’s. That’s tall company for anyone to keep.
In four years, may the United States still be a safe place to oppose a candidate while strongly and proudly supporting the United States of America, and may we once again be celebrating the triumph of the Americna ideal.
