This nation is gearing up for the swearing in of our new President Barack Obama Tuesday. I think I have made it clear I am not a big Obama fan. However, I myself, a conservative in a red state, am surprisingly getting caught up in the optimism of this event. It is rather surreal, like most things have been this year. On one hand, we have this extreme pessimism over our economy and future, on the other, this optimism of what is truly a new era with the election of a President unlike any before, not just in race, but in his generation and background.
Our Sunday news programs were filled with predictions and analysis of what is to come. The truth is, no one really knows for sure, but Obama and his associates are telling us that things are going to get worse before they get better, and there is no reason to believe that will not be the case. I keep hearing the word "sacrifice" coming out of the Obama camp, it is going to be interesting to see what sacrifices we are asked to make, one of Obamas chief financial advisors assured us on the CBS news this morning that we will all be asked to sacrifice.
While Obama won handily, he did not win by any sort of a huge majority. A map breaking the results down by county showed that the overwhelming landmass of this nation voted Republican, but the urban population centers voted for Obama. There are marked differences between the cities and the rural areas of this nation, in what we hold sacred, our beliefs, and our politics. At the end of the day though we are all Americans. Our nation is not perfect, we are much like a family, we fight among ourselves, but woe to anyone who crosses us from outside of our family. The majority of us overwhelmingly are patriotic and love this country. Where we differ is in our beliefs in how to keep America intact and prosperous. On Tuesday the world will witness what our nation is so proud of, the orderly change in government. Two very different ideologies will be represented when Bush passes power to Obama. Not everyone in this nation will be happy to see it. But, most of us who did not vote for Obama pray for him to be successful, because if he is not our nation will suffer. Tuesday our nation will take a timeout from the worries of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, from our fear of another 9-11 style attack, and from the grim economic news and we will honor our new President. Whether we voted for him or not, he is our President, and I for one intend to show respect to the man and the office, even when voicing my dissent. The far left in this nation did not show respect to conservatives these last 8 years, and while constantly pointing the finger at George W. Bush for dividing the people of this country, they take absolutely none of the blame themselves. I think most of the conservatives in America will be kinder to President Obama than the far left was to Bush.
A year ago conventional wisdom did not point to Barack Obama being sworn in Tuesday. Two years ago, few Americans knew much about the man at all. We raise a man to the leader of our nation Tuesday who won mainly because he was alot easier to like than his opponents. We actually know very little about what to expect from him as President, but as Americans almost always do, we are going to hope for the best. All that is left to say now is God bless America, and God bless and grant wisdom to President Obama. Hopefully for all Americans and the world he will go down in history as the greatest President this nation has ever seen.