President Barack H. Obama

History made in America

On a cold winter day of January 20th, 2009 President-Elect Obama, took the oath to become the new President of the United States of America. My congratulations goes out to all Americans and especially to all those who believed and hoped he would do it. A special  and heartfelt congratulations goes out to those individuals who emerged from past generations of slaves. Equality is made possible when lines of division are rubbed away, but equality is achieved when dreams are realized; when we walk hand-in-hand to the top levels of society.

It's no secret that I'm on 'Team Hillary' - and I have been for a very long time and I probably will be for the rest of my life, unless she comes face to face and physically harms me. Actually, who am I kidding, I would still be on 'Team Hillary'. However, Hillary Rodham Clinton as President was a dream that I carried. It's weird, I know, because I'm not even American! Yet on another level, perhaps what she represented for so many women and society and the principles and goals she promoted - I just always supported her and wished to see her reach the top. And somewhere inside of me, I knew one day she would. But if this wasn't her year, then what better person to defeat her, than Barack Obama.

He's already won over millions with his words, but during the inauguration, he finally won me over too. Here's my favourit excerpt:

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny."

The challenges for this new administration is undoubtedly HUGE - as we all know. There's the $842 billion economic recovery package, investment into health and education and cleaning up the mess in Iraq where he says he'll be ordering military officers to take U.S. forces out in 16 months. And of course the immediate crisis in Gaza, which I pray he will work hard in helping them find peace, instead of jumping to take sides like past Presidents have done (but that's a whole other discussion).

Bottom line: there's a lot to do, but it's amazing to see how President Obama has already gotten the country off to a great and interesting start. I'm hearing that people are sharing a lot of love down there in America. 

~Take it from Nav... it's a new beginning...