A New Day Has Come

Inauguration Day (or "Obama Day", as some of us in the North have been calling it) has finally arrived and what a day it has been. A bunch of us gathered together in the kitchen at work around 11:30 a.m. and watched the ceremony unfold. I don't recall ever being this interested in an inauguration before (although I do vaguely recollect Maya Angelou reading a poem at Clinton's swearing in, so I must have caught part of that one) and it was a lot of fun to watch it with my co-workers and share the excitement and hopefulness of this historic moment with them, and the rest of the world.

I certainly don't envy President Obama the daunting job he has begun today but I definitely admire him for taking on the task. As Chris Rock said, "If you're the president, you only have two jobs - peace and money. That's the gig." Not an easy gig these days, that's for darned sure.

Time will tell how this new president chooses to lead his country. As the US of A's nearest neighbour, we Canadians will be watching closely to see what he does. As one of our political pundits pointed out, "It's not like Obama will wake up every morning and say, what can I do for Canada today?" but I think he understands we share more than a common border and an affinity for hockey. Did you know we supply more oil and gas to the United States than Saudi Arabia? It's true. They consume a lot of our fresh water as well. They need us and we need them, and not just for their TV programming, so I'd rather we work together to find solutions that suit us both. Right now, it seems like this new administration is willing to do what it takes to help us fulfill the hope and promise that shine so brightly in all our hearts today and with hard work and open minds, achieve common goals that we and all our global partners can believe in.

I wish them well and I certainly pray that President Obama and his family will be safe from harm during his term of office. The man was hired to do a job, all y'all living out there in crazy land just let him get on with it.