On the eve of a great day

Tomorrow at 6pm Amsterdam time, I will close my computer and glue myself to the television to watch President Obama take office. Talking to another American today at work, we admitted to the shame spiral that we have been swept up in for most of our lives. Except for a brief respite in the first Clinton term, there has been a constant urge to apologize for or rage against the US leadership. As a post-Watergate kid, I grew up believing that politicians were liars. And when I polled the playground in 1980, I was amazed that kids and adults wanted Reagan to win when Carter was so clearly the nicer person. And look who was right!

The Reagan era, though clearly Nixon-like in its antipathy toward the law, gave me something to fight against. Something to argue and debate about over the dinner table. The world was black and white to me then, as it has never been since. When George the First took office, I was sad that the first vote I cast was wasted, and when the first bombs fell on Iraq, I cried with all my fellow journalism students at University of Oregon. We were a liberal bunch.

When Clinton won the election, I cried again, only this time with joy. I thought everything would change, but instead it got worse, with the rise of Newt and Rush and the further fall of the golden rule. Neighbors began to mistrust neighbors and rule by logic and intelligence dwindled. Clinton was too human. Too much of a punchline to be effective in his second term. And then the dark days began.

Eight years of shame. Eight years of embarrassment. Eight years of apologizing for something that I didn't do. All ending tomorrow. Tomorrow!

I hope Obama will be everything I hope he will be. I hope the United States becomes the country I have always wanted and expected it to be. I am so grateful that this moment has happened and that my nieces and nephews and children I know will know that truth, justice and the American way isn't just a comic book construct. It is possible. God bless.