Well I must say yesterday was interesting, to say the least. Just the fact that over one million people showed up to witness the swearing in is very telling of the current mood of a large portion of the country (despite the bill of goods the right are trying to peddle). And before I get into something I have no right to go on about, I just wanted to mention the most surprising part of the inauguration for me: Rick Warren. I knew about the controversy. I knew some people would tune out when he was on. I knew others would be carefully listening to and analyzing his speech. I knew this was a huge moment for this man, this preacher, this religious public figure. What I didn't know is just how much his speech would suck. And I don't mean the content or the message, I mean his speech out and out sucked. It was dull. The delivery was horrible and flat. Except when he mentioned Melia and Sasha's names, when he suddenly became that creepy uncle you don't want to leave children alone with. At one point I was thinking maybe Diane Feinstein should have done the honors instead. Her opening words were far and above more eloquent and inspiring. I find it wickedly funny that after all the hype and controversy, his speech would just fail on so many levels. Anyway, back to it. Because my goodness what a fair amount of pressure to place on the shoulders of one man. I feel like people are expecting some sort of magic turnaround for the country. I don't. Call me a pessimist, but politics are politics. Big business is big business (well, a bit smaller lately). And the lot of them—politicians and businessmen and lobbyists—aren't going to suddenly grow a conscience. Things will go on as they always have. I'm not saying there won't be changes. I think there will be push to dismantle parts of the whole that aren't working (and please—please—let them start with No Child Left Behind). I would be more than happy to look back in a year or two and admit that I was completely wrong on this. If nothing else, I just hope that if the changes everyone is looking forward to don't manifest within a few months people won't suddenly blame the candidate they elected. This country may be excited to help with change and may be all pumped up and ready to take on the tough challenges ahead (something Obama really focused on in his speech) but I have a feeling that once people have to make sacrifices or actually do something to help keep this momentum going it'll all just fall apart. People will forget about the ideals and the "greater good" and go back to focusing on their immediate needs and surroundings. I'm not saying it's a selfish thing or a narrow world-view (although I sorta think it is), I just think it's human nature.