I wasn’t sure how today would feel. There was the anticipation of the unknown, a bit of fear mixed with excitement. There was also a bit of a feeling of overkill, as though it were all too much. Maybe it was the many people climbing on the wagon for perhaps the wrong reasons or without the needed conviction or maybe it was the endless coverage. Whatever the case, it all made me warily aloof.
But when I flipped on CNN this morning at 6 and saw the incredible masses of people converging on the Mall in DC, I was truly moved. There was a palpable sense of unity and purpose in the throngs of darkened silhouettes moving through the early morning darkness, all bundled against the cold. Amazing…
As with any disaster, and the past eight years have been just that, the hardest part is the recovery and staying focused on the task at hand, even when the going is rough. That is President Obama‘s most important job– keeping this willing mass of citizens’ eyes steadfastly set on the goals he lays out in the next days and weeks. He must make them feel as though they – wait, I mean we are part of the process, part of an answer. If he can maintain this engagement with us, we will be just fine.
No, that’s wrong. We will be even better…
A final word of thanks to George W. Bush: Without your callow, arrogant stewardship, without your dismissive “So What?” attitude, without your complete ignorance of what moves us as a citizenry, without your complete disregard for the rights and ideals that have defined us to the rest of the world, without your kowtowing to powerful cronies that created the wealth gap that has decimated our middle class, without your lead-headed leadership- just without you, citizen Bush, this day would not have come. Thank you for bitch-slapping us from our stupor. Thank you for wakening our senses. Thank you for giving us a definition of what we will not abide as a people.
Thank you, citizen Bush, we are awake now.
Welcome, President Obama- the floor is yours.
Redtree Times 
