Simple Gifts

I was proud and exhilirated today to witness an historic moment in American history. At 12 p.m. EST, I watched as Barack Obama, our nation's 44th, and first African American, president took the oath of office in 25-degree weather before a crowd of people so thick you could not see the grass on the entirety of the National Mall. I thought the classical arrangement of Simple Gifts was beautiful and moving, I smiled as our new president endearingly flubbed his lines (you'd be nervous too if you were being entrusted with leadership of this magnitude!), and I found his speech poignant, insightful, and inspiring.

But something troubles me now as it did during the election.

While I feel that Mr. Obama engenders the kind of optimism, forward-looking, and re-dedication that this country so needs right now, he is not the answer to all our problems and I feel it is a disservice to the man to consider him so.

I offer you an excerpt from Eavesdrop DC, a blog similar to Overheard in the Office in which random people submit bits of conversations they happened to overhear while traveling around Capital City:

"Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Overheard while transferring from ridiculously crowded Red Line train to ridiculously crowded Yellow Line train at China Town
Woman One: Dammmnnn girl! This Metro so damn c-rowded!
Woman Two: Shit yeah. Too many people here.
Woman One: Don’t worry, Obama gonna take care of that."

Seriously? I've heard other similar statements both personally and in print.

During and since the election, it seems people have looked upon him and treated him almost as the coming of the messiah. He is seen as the dawning of a Utopia, a right to all wrongs, the bringer of a harmonious society. They have painted a masterpiece-worthy image of him in their mind, and I'm sorry to break it to them, but no one can live up to that hype. That is an enormous amount of pressure to put on a person, and he will be under a level of scrutiny that would make even the most papparazzo-pestered starlet cringe on his behalf. His election was not a miracle, as some have called it; it was a reasoned act by people of all races of this country. The result will not be perfect. And there will be a lot of disappointed people when that becomes apparent.

The ugly truth: Obama will make mistakes. Obama will stumble through more than his oath of office. Obama will fail to deliver on some of his campaign promises. Obama will emerge as a fallible human being. Because he IS a fallible human being and he doesn't have all the answers, nor does he have a magic wand that he will wave and make our financial, international, and energy woes disappear. He's just a good person trying to do his best to lead his country in the direction he sees as the safest and most prosperous. And in that, the man has my gratitude, my respect, my faith, and my trust.

So on this momentous day, I say let us be grateful for the simple gifts of watching history made and observing the manifestation of Dr. King's dream, and let us look ahead on this new day with hope in our hearts and both eyes open.