Sprinted to the nearest TV after class today to see Obama awkwardly get sworn in, but oh what a speech. It was so hard not to be in America when he won the election, not to get to feel the communal swirl of euphoria on the streets, to have to youtube his acceptance speech between classes… so being here for this moment was so powerful.
I try to be a realist, politically. I understand that Barack Obama is not the second coming, that the markets will not right themselves at his whim, that formerly hostile world leaders will not join hands across the Mall and join in a chorus of “Kumbaya” before ratifying a treaty for world peace. But you can’t deny that it means something big. For a generation who came of political age at the beginning of the W Years, we are learning that there is more than one way to relate to your government. I think in some ways, it does mean all those big symbolic changes that we’re being sold. And for now, I have no problem with that. I’m ready to try on idealist’s clothing. Tomorrow is the first day of the Obama presidency, but for now, I think we all deserve to feel as hopeful as we see fit. After eight years, we’ve earned it.
“To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect… To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
