I'm not going to hide it from anyone, I'm an 18 year old white Jewish male from an upper-middle class Long Island family who goes to Binghamton University and I am a Democrat, but I think today Barack Obama gave all Americans a reason to unite, which brings me to what I thought was the most politically powerful part of his inauguration address:
"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."
Obama seems focused on erasing the party divide in Washington. And as he says, it shouldn't matter how big or small government is (a commonplace for dispute amongst Dems and Reps), but that it should work; which is evident that it does not based on the current state of the economy. His promise of bipartisanship is one that sticks out to me. Unity is essential towards fixing this nation's economy and making sure all the money spent by government and citizens goes to the right place. Not unlike Obama's favorite role model, Honest Abe, who believed unity was essential towards sustaining the United States of America. Funny coincidence.
Regarding the day's events, I took notes of a few things. As I was watching the coverage on NBC (huge Brian Williams fan), and as they panned out onto the mall, it was a majestic scene. Two million people were there for the inauguration ceremony. Two million. There are only 591,000+ people living in the District of Columbia. It was just a scene to behold. Another interesting moment was the departure of W. He and Laura quickly embraced Barack and First Lady Michelle and he darted onto his helicopter with his family and they left for Andrews Air Force Base, and eventually his new house in Dallas. The Obamas and Bidens stood on the steps of the east side of the Capitol building, waving, with almost smug looks on their faces as Bush flew off into obscurity. It's kind of like mom and dad going away for the weekend and now you get to invite all your friends over for an awesome kegger. Instead, it's the Bush regime going away for a few years and Obama getting his Senate and House majorities rounded up to shake up a house of his own. A third thing I'd like to point out is how today is one of those rare days you get to see all the biggest names in politics come together and be cordial with each other. You had all the living presidents come together and it was just nice to see some unity in Washington for once.
It's clear that Obama has the poise, he's got his Democratic Congress, he's got his bromantic VP Joe Biden, and he's got his promises. Now, it's time to see if he can put all his attributes to work as he attempts to steer this country in the right direction. But Democratic or Republican, black or white, it's hard not to admire Obama for what he's done up to this point. For the way he's able to rally people together, how he's an upstanding family man, and how he just likes to enjoy a nice game of hoops every now and again, we should give him our full, cooperative effort.
I guess the only negative part about today is that Scrubs isn't being shown due to coverage of the inaugural balls. Oh well.
More to come from the play-by-play man Alex Pagliaro.
-Jordan M. Rabinowitz
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