It is safe to say that today marked a day that I never imagined would happen in my lifetime. As Barrack Obama took the oath of office I was sitting in a classroom of 6th graders who, by about 80%, were glued to the television screen and seemed to understand the historical significance of the moment. Now, these are a loveable group of kids in a lot of ways, but as a teacher there is a lot not to love about them. Hardly any of them take school seriously, hardly any of them turn in their assignments, and hardly any of them can tell you what they want to do when they grow up. Most of them are mired in what I’m sure seems like hopeless generational poverty – they just don’t believe “Yes we can.” Although it sounds good to them, they just don’t believe it, at least enough to motivate themselves to strive to “be like Barrack.”

At least that is today. My hope is that, as a teacher, I can use the significance of today to motivate a group of kids to understand that they are important. The fact that no one in their family has ever been to college, in fact most don’t have anyone who’s graduated from high school, doesn’t mean they don’t have a special place awaiting them if they can just figure out how to work for something. I listened to Obama’s speach with the ears of someone who’s interested in politics (a lifetime interest – which should be obvious if you’ve read many of my posts) and someone who takes the responsibility of being an educator very seriously. It is the former interest that motivates most of my thoughts for tonight, but I can say for sure that Obama has gained the attention of my students. If anything will help me to get them off the “snide” it may be his election. I work in a school that is very diverse, and the kids are excited that Obama doesn’t look the same as the leaders they have gotten used to watching on TV and listening to their parents bad mouth (I don’t bring my politics into the classroom, but in this case I don’t have to – their parents are mostly victims of “trickel down” economics).

As I digested what I heard today, I felt better and better about Obama’s speech while the clock ticked off the rest of the day. First of all, in a very subtle manner, Obama was not complimentary of the Bush administration – he signaled a significant change from the previous policies in just about every way. Whether that means he’s going to do the right thing and “discover” all the “ills” of the last eight years remains to be seen, but the direction of our government will be an “about face” if he follows through on his word. I really liked his call to service of the American people. I’m really tired of a government which throws out endless promises and asks for nothing in return. The truth is that, while some people are doing just fine thankyou, there is a growing segment of the population who are in financial trouble – mirroring our national government – and need to feel that the rest of us are going to be there for them. So, the general mindset of the people is the first thing that has to change. He is challenging us, as a nation, to take up the call to serve in some fashion, and I’m thankful for that.

Today, while all the celebration was going on the banking system fell further in the hole it has created for itself, presumably looking for a larger “lifeline” from the government. The Iraq and Afganistan occupations continue, with people dying daily, our roads and bridges continue to crumble after close to 30 years of neglect, and our manufacturing base is virtually relocated to whatever nation has the cheapest labor at the expense of our blue collar workers.

Tomorrow, Obama will begin what may be the most monumental task any American President has ever undertaken. To listen to him, he surely sounds as if he’s up for the job. I feel with certainty, however, that the rosy nature of the picture is going to change dramatically the moment he walks into the door of the oval office. I guarantee you that people like Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity were not celebrating today. And they will be hard at work tomorrow spreading their untruths in an effort to keep “We the People” from getting too excited about all that is going on. They will be fighting for their very existence, and I don’t expect them to go away quietly (although I can’t express how badly I’d like to see them go away). Reality is going to be uglier and uglier. It will be at least 6 months to a year until whatever is proposed in the first few weeks has any effect on the sinking economy. I wish I could say that we were all going to pull together and try some things and if they don’t work try some different things, with everything aimed at helping the people who need it most – in my mind a good start would be the people who are losing their homes. But, to me, the reality (and I hope I’m wrong) is that the Republicans will be looking for the first opportunity to undermine Obama’s plans.

As sure as the sun comes up tomorrow you can expect a big push to funnel an additional large sum of money to the banking industry, based on today’s news. I don’t know if Obama is going to fall for this or not – I’ve already read reports that the crisis is spreading rapidly AGAIN and the fear mongers are out in full force. Citibank, Bank of America, The Bank of Scotland, and others are presumably “on the brink” if they don’t get additional “bailout” money. So far Henry Paulson (thank God he’s not the Treasury Secretary anymore) dished out $350 Billion with virtually no oversight – something Congress vowed not to allow, but allowed anyway – and the banks very arrogantly have used the money for all kinds of purposes except what it was originally intended for. SO WHY WOULD WE GIVE THEM MORE??? That doesn’t make sense to me – I hope the government takes the second half of the TARP money and aims it right at the homeowners who are in foreclosure and helps them to restructure their loans so that they can remain in their homes, the banks can continue to get income from the mortgages, and possibly we can keep a million or so homes from going on the auction block.

Then there’s the thought, shared by Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman during the campaign, that the “terrorists” will test the new president early in his administration. Now, if you read all the available info on the early part of the Bush administration, they had plenty of evidence to stop the 9/11 attacks in its tracks – they just lacked a functioning intelligence system in conjunction with the FBI and the defense department. The National Security Agency even had a bead on the two original hijackers who came to this country and just let them wander around, unimpeaded, for over a year as they prepared to take out the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. This will be another reality facing President Obama (sounds great doesn’t it?) tomorrow as he goes to work. Add to this the unemployment numbers that are burgeoning upward and it wouldn’t be too surprising if Obama went home early on his first day with a migraine headache!

All this said, and despite the enormity of the task (and I’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg, so to speak) I have to admit I’m excited. I’m realistic to understand that President Obama is only going to make me happy part of the time – and the possibility that he could make me very unhappy is real – but I’m as excited as I’ve been for as long as I can remember. It’s almost like it would have been if Robert Kennedy had not been killed and had become President instead of Richard Nixon back in 1968. Then I would have faced the prospect that I face today – The man I supported won! Now, I supported Jimmy Carter, but only after he became President – with Obama I’ve been partially or totally on board right from the start. The expectation is high, and it is up to me to keep it realistic. Obama says he’s the President of ALL Americans, which means he’s President over the ones I’m not too happy about, like Limbaugh, Hannity, Bush, Cheney, Rove, Delay, etc. So there’s bound to be stuff happening that I don’t agree with, but the tenor of the speech today, sounded like something I’ve waited my lifetime to hear (actually John Kennedy gave a good speech – The problem is I was just about the age of my students at the time and we didn’t have TV’s in the classrooms in those days). My challenge to President Obama: Live up to the words of your speech!