Amazed

I really, truly don't get some people and their bizarrely negative and uninspired opinions regarding Barack Obama.

My assumption is that it is hard to recognize the significance of Obama's inauguration unless you and your family have personally experienced being told the limits of your dreams.

Don't get me wrong. I get it. I know that Obama will not be able to solve all of our problems. I know that some people are overly excited and expect more from Obama than he will be able to deliver. And while this is a very important moment in terms of race, my fear is that people will blame his mistakes (because he will make them) on his race. But President Obama is just an imperfect man. Just like Bush. Just like Reagan. Just like Kennedy. Just like Washington.

But if people want to celebrate, I say let them. We have gone from this



to this



in a fairly short amount of time.

And while this presidency will not solve all of America's problems, it represents a sense of redemption that many Americans - particularly African-Americans- need to feel. Just 40 years ago, my parents (not my great-great-great grandparents) but my PARENTS were told who they were and who they would never be. They were called names to their faces that I've only been called behind my back. They bit their tongues when they were just as equally entitled to speak their minds as those who attacked them.

So I say, today, let them celebrate. Today, I think of my grandfather, one of Alabama's first black voters, and how proud he would have been. There will be plenty of time to focus on the issues. Tomorrow, President Obama will go to work, the people will travel home, the news crews will return to their families, and we will still be broke and at war.

But as for today, let's just soak it in and think positively.