What I Saw Today - Inauguration Day

Today was a historic day. I know of no one who is, or should be, proud of the heritage of slavery. Though it goes back to ancient times and was engaged in though most of the world, there is no defense of one man owning another. The Civil War decided the issue in the United States. The next hundred years were not kind to the black man. However, with that said, I know of no county in the world that has tried as hard through government action to make up the difference than this country. Civil rights legislation, affirmative action, preferential treatment, all were attempts to right a wrong. Today, I would say the journey ended. A black man has been elected by a significant majority to be President of the United States. Martin Luther King's dream of a color blind society, though not complete, is close to realization. Based on this, I don't see a black man, but an individual who has been elected to lead this country - all of it, black, white, yellow, red and all shades in between.

With these parameters in mind, what did I see today?

I saw a young inexperienced politician from the cesspool of Chicago politics. I saw an excellent speaker, who has campaigned on vague generalities and catchy slogans. I saw a party fostering fears and placing blame on the people in office and possibly creating a self fulfilling prophesy, which took a bad economic situation and made it worse. I saw a man who has associated with persons so far to the left of the main stream of American political thought, that it begs reconciliation.

At the same time a saw an intelligent man with shewed political instincts treading a center-left path of governing. He says he wants to unite the country. Yet he is supported by his parties far left's control of both houses of Congress. A Congress with leadership in both houses that are to the extreme left of the political spectrum and whose obvious quest is for power to remake the country in their own image. A near center course is a great challenge.

He rode to victory on the desire of the people for change due to an unpopular war, dire economic circumstances and to some extent a guilt trip if they didn't support the first African American to run for President.

I feel he will have an unprecedented opportunity to get done about anything he desires. This will last until the economy brings the people the check and they have to pony up to pay for the liberal spending and pork laden stimulus plan, which is nothing more than pork for building voter majorities. The Congressional Budget Office already reveals the ineptitude of this tact in quickly solving the problems at hand. Certainly the market's reaction on inauguration day did not validate a feeling of confidence by the investing public.

I think the old saw of, "hope for the best but prepare for the worst" would be my vision of what is to come in the immediate future.