( – promoted by buhdydharma )
Speaking as a supporter who will cut you no slack when you are wrong, I am mighty proud to have you as my President.
I am specifically writing to thank you for taking the first step in closing the gulags at Guantanamo and elsewhere, and for shutting down Bush’s military commissions.
While I’m at it, thanks for putting some teeth back into the Freedom of Information Act. Also, please reconsider your approach in Afghanistan. It is a debacle too. There is nothing to win there. And please stop the violence in Gaza and everywhere else. Blessed are the peacemakers.
To everyone else, please sign the ACLU’s “Thanks for acting on Day One” message to President Obama.
P.S. The following are my notes on the inauguration. I was going to expand them into a proper diary but it seems like overkill at this point.
Notes on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009
It’s 10:00 am and I am watching the celebration in DC. This is an unbelievable event. I am feeling a tapestry of complex emotion: relief, fear, joy, concern, pride…and stunned disbelief that the Bush nightmare is finally, mercifully, blessedly over – even if the nightmares he saddled us with remain. I believe, in addition to everything else, I am suffering a profound case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder…but I don’t mind.
I want to be jubilant, and I’m experiencing brief spikes of it, but I can’t quite seem to sustain it. I am proud of my country, believe me – I am moved, I am stirred, but I am worried about too many things. This is a great day for America, but I fear it may have come too late. Lord how I pray that I will be proven wrong.
The view of BHO coming onto the dais was inspirational. I wish it didn’t include all those like DiFi, Hoyer, Reid and Pelosi. Dear God, we could do without all those corrupt assholes. Why does our government, even the democratic side of it, look like a rogue’s gallery of thievery, wankery and ethical misconduct?
‘retha made me cry. What a voice. What a song. Let freedom ring. Indeed.
Obama and Biden are having to twist around in their seats and crank their necks to look at Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman. Seems like bad planning. The CNN announcer just stated that BHO, though not yet sworn in, is now the POTUS. Tears of joy for Barack Obama.
He chokes a bit at the oath – perfectly understandable (it’s all Roberts’ fault…grrrrr) – but now it’s official. He is now President Barack H. Obama. Congratulations Mr. President! And congratulations America! Glory, glory hallelujah!
Some may be surprised that I am so pleased, since I criticized Obama recently. Not even our new President will ever receive my uncritical support. I expect (and hope) to be pleased by most of what he does but I fully intend to sound off (for whatever it may be worth) any time that I think he is in error.
Unqualified and uncritical support of any leader is not the duty of patriots. Our duty is not to the President. Our duty is to the nation…and the world.
We will be doing President Obama and our country a deep disservice any time that we fail to call him on it when he is wrong. And there are going to be those times.
I love, admire and respect President Barack Hussein Obama, and I am truly delighted that he is our 44th President – but for me, there shall be no passes when it comes to kicking Presidential asses.
Peace Out!
OPOL
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Thanks for summing up Inauguration Day and how you felt as you viewed it.
The We Are One pre-Inauguration day celebration and Inauguration Day, itself, were totally wonderful, inspiring, awesome and very emotional events — and done with such class and dignity.
I didn’t enjoy seeing Feinstein, Reid, Pelosi and Hoyer so much in the limelight either. It bothered me, but so did Bush’s presence! Bush’s facial expressions were something else.
All in all, though, I felt like almost afraid to feel the emotion, joy and the pride — like there was almost something that had to be wrong for feeling that way, even for a day! I guess that’s the aftermath of eight years of nothing but bad news and disappointment on a daily basis.
I don’t know how Obama does it — he has not stopped in over two years, with only a few days away from it all during that time.
Talk about hitting the ground running, Obama has done it! And his initial steps to close Guantanamo, etc. do us ALL proud.
In addition to the items you’ve mentioned, Obama also ordered the following yesterday:
Totally awesome steps!
Yes, “thank you” is definitely in order!
And that Afghanistan item isn’t a small one…
a patriot who loves his country, in the good way. I thank you once again for keeping my spirit intact and helping us all to look at the truths we would rather not see. The ones that are outside the realm of politics. The truths we all need to learn again. Lots of good intentioned people think after years of empty politics and authoritarian rule that blind following is patriotic. I too am grateful and happy for now that Obama is starting the long road back to decency, and social justice, to the documents that keep us safe, all of us as humans,globally. He seems to be reversing the old where politics and ideology wagged the tail of policy and to use politics for good policy founded in Law. Criticism is our job as citizens of both here and the world. The Bill of Rights is universal.
I also feel that support for my country is more then elections and cheer leading the leader of the moment. He seems good at treading the space where angels fear to go, yet is no fool. I am so glad that he is jumping in and addressing the heinous crimes, bring some measure of law and decency to the foreground of his new administration. I ‘hope’ he manages to run this gauntlet laid down by those who sought and still do to turn our democracy to dust.
good to see a “happy” essay! 🙂