Inauguration Day

Today, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Up until today, he was the president elect and nothing was official, but today made it official. I watched the ceremonies in a classroom with about 100 other people, all watching a TV that was set up with rabbit ear reception. In the classroom, virtually every person was enthusiastically watching as the first African American president was sworn in to office. For America, it is not an opinion, but a fact that today was a historic day on any level, be it racial or political. The mood of people who watched the inaugural from what i saw, was hopeful and optimistic. You had a sense in the room that everyone was proud of their country and for what its worth, was proud to be an American. I feel that today did represent a great step forward in America because on a massive scale, the culmination of organized free speech and protest efforts, resulted in the product of what we saw today. This is not to say that racial discrimination in America has ceased, but racial inequality in America, especially for African Americans has come a long way.

The ceremonies today seemed over the top, with a massive organization of millions of people who came to see Barack Obama sworn in. In class today someone brought up the point that the costs of today's event was around $180 million dollars, this coming when we are experiencing the worst economic crisis in history. I think that it is slightly excessive, but the money is going towards something which can be enjoyed at a national level. It is important that we have these traditions and ceremonies in our society because it defines us in a way as a culture; how we celebrate the transfer of presidential power. If we happen to spend $180 million taxpayer dollars doing so, i feel we could be spending it on worse things than a presidential celebration.

Barack Obama's speech seemed to be what everyone had expected, an acceptance, an outline of his goals as president, and what he thought about the ability of the American people to meet these goals. He put in some things about the social structure of America, and the economic ladder. What I found in particular that was so interesting was how Obama used his speech not to discuss his views on partisan issues, but to lay out common goals for America to meet and unite under. The economy, foreign policy and the individual obligations were all discussed in the speech, and under the theme of bettering ourselves, and our country Obama told us how he would fix everything.

What his speech showed me about the American way of life, was that our society is like a rebellious child. We push the limits of what we can and cannot do, like to be told we can do whatever we like. Yet secretly, we want structure and discipline because we are not stupid, just reluctant, and we know that it is required for our well being. As a nation we push the limits in our arts, our music and our entertainment, we use our free speech to protest when we are against something, and organize when we want something. When taxes and sacrifice is needed, we flock to the politician who promises lower taxes and the ability to live in excess. The last 8 years have been full of doing whatever we pleased and recklessness, without any thought of the consequences. Now we are suffering the consequences because we were never given any discipline with our economy, or our military actions. Obama's speech was about what we have facing us over the next 4 years because of the previous 8. What I thought was important, was that Obama talked about how great America once was, and has proven itself to be, and can be again, if he can do what he has said. He is offering change, but with change comes structure and sacrifice. In order for Obama to be a successful president, he needs to have popular support, and if the people can realize that sacrifice and socio-economic discipline are necessary for our country to move forward, than Barack Obama will be a successful president.