President Obama

I don't even know how to begin, and I know whatever I say will end up sounding trite. What an amazing, historic, and emotional day. I was reminded of Martin Luther King's "I've Been To the Mountaintop" speech, the one he delivered in Memphis the day prior to his assassination. It's the King speech that has always stirred the most emotion in me, even more than the much more lauded "I Have a Dream" speech. Near the end, in the part that always makes me teary-eyed, King says:

"I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!"

I always have believed that the "we" in "we, as a people" could apply as much to whites as blacks. Perhaps whites just didn't realize that they needed to make it to the promised land.

Well, I'd say that if the United States didn't finally make it into the Promised Land today, the country at least made it to the outskirts of town.

Many people have commented on the irony of Obama being sworn in as the United State's first African-American president the day after the Martin Luther King holiday.

I watched the inauguration in the lobby of the library in which I work, in dowtown Lansing, Michigan. I watched alongside library patrons, most of whom were African-American, and several of my library co-workers. One library patron took a few pictures of the TV screen with her camera. I had the sense that some of our library patrons watching the inauguration finally feel engaged in the American political process for the first time in their lives.

(I will add more detail regarding my inauguration experience later, but wanted to get this out there now while the memory is still fresh).

I will admit that I was teary-eyed throughout the entire inauguration, as I was on election night when it was clear Obama had won.

Let's not kid ourselves, the road will be difficult and Obama's honeymoon won't last long. But I feel confident and optimistic for our country's future, and I haven't felt that way in a long time.