Despite all the ugliness of politics, despite the name calling and at times, uncivilized behavior from our representatives in government, despite the scandals and greed, America is still a great country.
I am sitting here watching the Inaugural and what a show. It is a great show because of the attendance and participation of regular everyday Americans lining the streets, the mall and any open space in sight, including rooftops.
This is probably one of a kind of inauguration, will we see another African American elected? Maybe a woman?
I'm not sure. No one ever could have predicted that he'd get elected 2 years, or 5 years ago. So we cannot say that a woman may not get elected or another African American, who knows, maybe even a Latino president someday.
It took long enough for a minority representative to get elected. It's happened before, not in the U.S. but in other countries. Take Bolivia's current president, Evo Morales, an indigenous native of Bolivia and not a Harvard educated and trained economist.
250 years ago, Mexico elected a native indian form on its poorest states. Benito Juarez, who successfully expelled the French occupying forces at the time.
It was time for the U.S. to experience this kind of pride. It was time for us as Americans to feel proud again of being Americans.
I was telling my son this morning as we were watching the beginning of the inaugural that when the next inaugural happens again, he will be 14 years old, and eight years later, my daughter perhaps will be voting for and watching the first woman be elected to the presidency.
No matter what happens between now and then, whether Obama's presidency is a success or failure, the fact that he is speaking to the country as the new President, is a sign that we've come a long way as a country.
Indeed it's a brad new day.
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