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Day 1

I heard a lot of pundits speaking yesterday on how historic the inauguration was, how we were collectively witnessing history and other such sentiments.   I agree that yesterday was a wonderful milestone for civil rights in this country, but I have a fervent hope that President Obama will not be remembered by our great-grandchildren as the first African-American US President.  January 20, 2009 should not simply be the answer to question #10 on a 5th grade social studies quiz.  

I hope that future generations will remember this presidency for what it will accomplish, for setting us on a trajectory of peace and prosperity that was unmatched in human history, for engaging and inspiring a new generation of leaders, for fostering a culture of service, for ushering in unparalleled access and transparency of government, for ensuring that every person has affordable access to quality healthcare, for solving our climate and poverty crisis, for building the world’s most effective primary and secondary educational system, and yes for closing the loop on 300 years of racial inequality and strife. The President can obviously not do this alone, the power of the government is (thankfully) limited and scope of our problems is unbounded; however, he can inspire us to achieve all of this and more.  

President Obama’s new job will be to identify what needs to be done and motivate the American people to take action. The genius of this presidency is that nothing now seems out of reach. If, given the current state of race relations and politics, Obama was able to pull together and motivate an organization that was able to get an African-American elected president, are these other goals really unachievable? Who can deny the implausibility of what he achieved? Who can say that the other challenges facing us are more entrenched or difficult to navigate than what has already been accomplished? I cannot.  

I can no longer bury my head in the sand and say that the problems facing us are too difficult to solve and therefore should be ignored. Barack Obama has proven that anything is possible, let’s help expand his chapter in the history books. Today is Day 1 of the Obama administration and we all have the opportunity and responsibility to ensure that yesterday’s event ends up as a footnote to history.

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