America’s greatest national resource is not oil, or crops, or arable land.
America’s greatest national resource is hope. And today we have renewed that resource.
And we will remember, I hope we will remember, that our hope is not predicated upon the successes or failures of one man or one party or one government. America is not her president or her government. America is not her territories or her economy.
America is a belief, held at first by only a few people, that we can pull ourselves out of the muck of history — of predetermination and of the inevitability of tyranny and failure. The people who believed that were flawed people, but their idea was good. And over the past two centuries, their idea has become shared by the whole world. It has not only become popular, but essential to the survival of any nation — the understanding that the power to do good or ill rests ultimately in the hands of the citizens.
I believe that Barack Obama will be a good president. I hope that he will be a great president. But my hope is not entirely in his hands. My hope comes from the simple fact that he was elected…because it tells me that America’s people recognize our mistakes and missteps and want to find a better way.
I am confident, for the first time in a long time, that we will find that way. It is good to have a good president, but it is better to have a citizenry who are willing to accept the responsibility for running their own country. And Obama’s election, I believe, is a sign that we are ready to do that.
And me? I’m off to the coffee shop to work on my novel.
Because some things never change.
I did not vote for Obama and I never would vote for someone as liberal as he is. I woke up Tuesday morning assuming I would be bitter over the whole thing. However, to my own surprise, I was not. As I watched the events of the day unfold, I felt happy. Proud. We have a very great system in place. The rotation of power. There really can be no other way.
And yes, I think that in spite of my opposition to many of Obama’s views, I was proud to see that America elected her first black President. History was made and I thank God I was here and alive to have witnessed it.
In the coming weeks and months and years I will be voicing a lot of disapproval and dissent over what he does as President. That will come natural. The Democrats do it to the Republicans and the Republicans will do it to the Democrats. Yes, there will be dissent. But I will try not to be as hateful as many were towards Bush. I know he made a lot of mistakes, and although I feel he did an awesome job fighting terror, he could have used improvement in many other areas.
Again, I will not lie and sit here and say Obama is going to be flawless and that I will not be a critic. I will be a critic. Probably a pretty staunch one. But at the same time, I am happy for him and his family and his supporters. I saw them on television and saw how happy they were and that made me happy, too.
May God bless America and may He also be a factor in all of Obama’s decisions.
Billy Kess
http://billykess.blogtownhall.com/2009/01/20/the_inauguration_2009.thtml