The Once and Future President

My wife and I were supposed to go to D.C. yesterday to view the inauguration...  But the people organizing the bus tour we were supposed to be going on couldn't get enough people to pony up their money in time and the trip was cancelled.

That's okay....I watched it on television...which is what I would have done anyway had I not been given the opportunity to go.

Before hundreds of thousands of well-wishers at the National Mall in front of the Capitol and millions more like myself,watching on television, Barack Obama was sworn in Monday for his second term as President of these sometimes United States.. "America's possibilities are limitless," he declared in his inauguration speech.


President Obama aimed for an optimistic tone as he delivered an inaugural address to a nation seeking solutions to economic woes at home and conflict overseas. He started the speech by re-invoking the foundational principles of the Republic — and asking people to hear him.

"A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention,"President  Obama declared. "My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it - so long as we seize it together."

He closed: "You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time - not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.
"Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom."

I'm sure Fox News and the right wing are going to cut this speech up...Dice it, slice it and use it to further criticize and malign a president who might have been more successful in his first term had they not fought him and blocked him every step of the way, which they are still doing...and had they not distracted the nation with nonsense like the birth certificate issue ,Benghazi and you can fill in the blank at anytime...

For it's part..Washington largely shelved its partisan fighting and bickering for the three days of inaugural celebrations. But pressing matters await President Obama as he starts his second term, including three looming fiscal deadlines. He'll also need help from a reluctant Congress if he hopes to fulfill his promise to sign comprehensive immigration reform and tighten gun laws in the wake of last month's school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

The country is not better off than it was when he took office....but not for his lack of trying...He has a chance to make good his promises this time around...and we , the people, the voters owe him that chance by coming out and voting next year and cleaning out the last remnants of the Tea Party and obstructionist Republicans in the house and the senate...

That's what we owe him...He owes us an honest attempt to make good on his agenda to help working and middle class families....Hopefully , this four years will go down better than the last..