Obama binding up old wounds

It was a cold and windy Washington day. It was a day that few will forget where they were or what they were doing. Never mind the fact that it was cold and windy. Never mind the fact that there were an estimated 2 million people on the Washington Mall today.

While his speech wasn't exactly of the same ilk along the lines of FDR's "Fear itself" in 1933 or JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you," today was a day of rejoicing either publicly or in private. It was a day that forever changed the nation as we know it. It was the end of eight of the worst years this nation ever had since the days of one Herbert Clark Hoover. The Bush era is over and thankfully for some of us. He is gone, never to rear his head in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, thanks in part to the election of Barack Obama and the 22nd Amendment, which would have stopped him from a thrid term.

Granted, he's only been on the job for about 7 hours but from his speech this afternoon, which took all of 18 minutes (a lot shorter than William Henry Harrison's 2 hour long speech, which all but sealed his fate), President Obama called on Americans of all standings of race, religion, gender and sexual orientation to be one. He also reached globally, to those nations that despise us. He not only extended an olive branch to our enemies, he tried to lay the foundation to re-establish our standing in the world (damaged by the Bush administration) to be a better global neighbor.

It will not be easy. It's not like "The West Wing," where Bartlett solves a problem in 60 minutes and the entire gang goes to the White House galley for a beer. The road in front of us will not be as smooth as we want it. There are problems with the economy, jobs, the environment and a war that is costing us more and more each day in money and manpower.

We also have an education system that is behind other nations, due in part to the bean counters that think they know more than the ones that are in the trenches everyday. We have schools that are crumbling like sand castles and in need of repair.

We also need to address the issue of the war in Iraq and need a timeline to get out of there so that the Iraq people can govern themselves. We also need to find the weapons of mass destruction that Bush claimed exist as well as Bin Laden to either capture him or kill him.

We need to find better and cheaper alternatives to eneregy to save and protect the environment that has been entrusted to us and if that means wind, solar, hydro and/or biofuels, then so be it.

We are a nation that is, to quote the Schoolhouse Rock song, "The Great American Melting Pot." We are different not just in race and religion, we are different in gender and sexual preference. Some of us were born here or our ancestors came here by ship. Some chose to come to make a better life. Some didn't have a say in the matter.

Nonetheless, we are family. We sometimes argue about petty things like families. In the end, we all come together. We're not perfect. We still have flaws and will continue to have them. They're not going away anytime soon. It's the thing that makes us human, our leaders included. "From many, one" as our nation's motto says.

Whether you voted for President Obama or not, we need to rally around him. It's not going to be easy. Even FDR didn't really get off the ground running until World War II started. Not all are going to agree with him. That's fine. I only ask that you be civil about it. We are a divided nation that needs to come together, to listen to our better angels.

On a cold day in Washington, Barack Obama invoked his hero Abraham Lincoln and urged us as citizens to bind up old wounds. The world looked at us and hoped for the best. The world is watching.