1-20-2009

1-20-2009.

This date has been a rallying cry for so many of us who have spent the last eight years as unwilling hostages in Bush country. The date was a promise of an end and, better yet, a promise of a beginning. I have to admit, though, that “1-20-2009!” became an empty phrase for me, akin to “Peace in the Mideast!” The concept sounded perfectly lovely, but it's nothing I ever really envisioned.

But then on Tuesday, it really was 1-20-2009.

I had gotten so used to hearing horrible news that anything seemed possible. If I woke up that morning to hear that Bush proclaimed himself Emperor-for-life and his first act was to arm children and tell them to hunt polar bears, I’d probably go about my day thinking, “Well, that sounds about right.” But no… millions of jubilant Americans filled DC. Obama was sworn in. Nobody blew anyone up. Bush flew home. Obama stayed. I felt like a kid whose parents just brought home a puppy: “You mean we can KEEP him???”

I cried quite a bit. It was a thawing of cynicism, a realization that hope isn’t foolish. As the leaders filed into the Capitol, I looked at the forlorn-looking Bush and the wheelchair-bound Cheney and felt sorry for them. I thought how awkward it must be to be so widely despised, to give eight years of your life for failure, to… NO! NO! NO! Reason slapped me in the face and reminded me that these are the men who defended torture, who spoke of global warming as a kooky conspiracy theory, who caused so much loss of life, nature, money, and morale. But for a moment, I was so touched by the day that I almost felt sorry for them. President Barack Obama made me drunk on hope.

Although I’ve cast a worried eye at Obama since the election, I’m starting to see things fit together. No, he will not be my liberal kick-ass president. He won’t flip righties the bird and save the world while wearing a biodegradable cape and NPR t-shirt. The dude’s going to compromise with people I don‘t like. I worry about the effectiveness about someone who compromises with so much at stake, but yet I see the genius in it when I hear hard-core Republicans giving him a chance and seeming to genuinely hope for his success. Obama just might be a great American statesman. I haven’t seen this during my lifetime, and I’m rather confused about it.

Or he might not be. He might fail, we might fall deeper into economic and international ruin, we might look back on this time as foolish and naive. Yet we really did have our 1-20-2009. I felt what it was like to listen to a president and feel proud, giddy, and hopeful, and I want to stay this way as long as possible. So here's to 1-20-2009 and beyond...