Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Happy Inauguration Day!

No doubt there are different feelings out there about today, some overwhelmingly positive, some overwhelmingly negative, some apathetic, some pessimistic.

I am somewhat optimistic. Here are the top 10 things I'm glad about today, recognizing that many out there will have strongly different feelings:

I'm glad...

10. ... that I will now be able to look at Dick Cheney's house on Google Earth (... and that the Vice President is no longer a member of both the Executive and the Legislative branches).

9. ... that the most influential voices with the President's ear on matters of science now actually have degrees in science.

8. ... that the new President and Vice-President don't think they can ignore laws passed by Congress by writing secret notes to themselves.

7. ... that agents of the U.S. who torture prisoners will now be in big trouble rather than given a bonus (and that we won't be putting the names of our secret agents on Google Government).

6. ... in hope that Wall Street will have to follow a few rules, rather than basically being able to do whatever they want with everyone else's money without oversight.

5. ... in hope that we might move closer to everyone having health care and that we might address how to educate our children better, rather than just setting standards and punishing those who don't find a way to meet them on their own, with hopelessly disfunctional children.

4. ... in hope that we might try a little more diplomacy with realistic expectations rather than taking an all or nothing approach that, either way, raises up more future terrorists than it kills or starves.

3. ... that we have instantaneously regained significant moral standing in the world's eyes, a new opportunity to convince the world that we are a genuine force for good in a world full of evil.

2. ... that an African-American has been elected President.

1. ... that the country gets a new start, a hit of the reset button. In short, I'm glad for a change.

We don't know yet if Obama will be a good President or if he will be able to do any better than the Bush administration did with their circumstances. But we can hope.

8 comments:

::athada:: said...

0... Sponsored S. 2433, Global Poverty Act of 2007, which would require the the President to work toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals that we agreed to as a nation in 2000 but have only made baby steps towards since(Bush's PEPFAR).

I think this would achieve 10x more security than our war on terror at 1/10th the cost.

Ken Schenck said...

Free at last, free at last, true thanks to God Almighty, we're free at last!

::athada:: said...

I thought it was nice that Warren ended in the Lord's Prayer. Evangelicals will liked that he prayed in Jesus' name too.

Ken Schenck said...

I thought the closing prayer by the African-American pastor was the best part of the whole thing...

Anonymous said...

I feel so much better now that the savior has come! Obama will save us,rescue the planet, revive the economy, bring peace to the world, bring cheaper gas prices and all the terrorists will now love us and be our friends. Even the earth will begin it's cooling process today. Let man and nature now rejoice!!

Ken Schenck said...

You're going too easy on him, Craig. Here's another top 10 a close seminary friend sent me:

"Here’s my 10 reasons to be sad:

10. … that this presidency will be defined by his race rather than his success or failure.

9. … that a U.S. president was elected mostly by force of image versus substance, and image won.

8. … that our leaders will make decisions based on popular opinion rather than keeping America safe and prosperous for our grandchildren.

7. … that the world’s terrorists are celebrating today along with us.

6. … that Christians will be further persecuted in the name of “tolerance”.

5. … that the federal government will expand without restraint to “stimulate the economy”.

4. … that the poor will ultimately pay the taxes on the rich.

3. … that the value of human life will be further eroded.

2. … that the definition of marriage and family will finally become useless.

1. … that a mother’s “right” to kill her unborn baby (even by partial birth abortion) will be further entrenched, and our new president will use my tax dollars to help her do it."

Anonymous said...

It would be a pity to let a few sore losers spoil such a patriotic occasion. Let's all extend congratulations to our new President with the hope and prayers that he will serve capably and competently, not just for the sake of us Americans but for people of all faiths around the world.

Martin LaBar said...

Well, a new start is good. You've pretty well summed up what was wrong with the Bush administration, except for not including the expenses for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the budget (and Congress agreed to that one). At least there will, eventually, be a different set of wrong things with the Obama administration.

For now, it's zero. (I think)