I caught the Inauguration of President Obama mostly on Webcast, in between incoming calls and the flotsam and jetsam of work.  I work for my State’s Government and our Legislature is in session and yeah, we’re having all kinds of fun trying to figure out a budget in this economy.  But that’s not what I want to write about.

First of all, I want to thank President Bush for his service.  I know a lot of people think he was possibly “the worst President evah!”  They actually believe there was some evil purpose behind the Bush administration.  I don’t have time for them.  There’s some sort of psychosis there, be it Bush Derangement Syndrome or just plain conspiracy mania, I dunno.  I think 9/11 changed all of us and say what you will about his methods, we never got hit again under his watch and Iraq is better off today than it was under Saddam, and Afghanistan is better than it was under the Taliban.  I believe he’s a man of honor and integrity who put the American people first.  I still have no problem with our going into Iraq, but looking back I wish it had been done better.  I have that luxury.  I wasn’t the man making the decisions.  You look at Secretary Rumsfeld’s resume and shit, I’d have trusted him too.  Not sure if anyone else has read this little piece of trivia, but President Bush met with more families of fallen military members than any President before him.  That tells me volumes about the man and his sense of responsibility for what he was doing.  I was proud to serve under him.  I’m glad his name is on my retirement certificate.

I was moved by President Obama’s inauguration.  I didn’t miss the fact that he’s our first African American President.  Only an idiot could have missed it.  The fact that we no longer have that racial ceiling is exciting.  I’m serious, that just blows me away.  We can move on now and get past that crap.

I didn’t miss his message of responsibility.  That we all need to chip in and help get us out of the problems that face us.  If there’s one thing that’s bugged me about this decade is that while the military is at war, the rest of the country isn’t.  It doesn’t jive with the stories my parents told me about how people gave up things to help support the war effort in WW II.  There’s been something missing.  A sense that we’re all in this thing together. I think the new President realizes this as well.

I’m still cynical enough to not trust our new President because he comes from the Chicago Machine.  However, he’s my President and if the Clintons couldn’t find any dirt on the man that would take him down, I’ve got to conclude that there simply isn’t any.  I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  For those on the far right who want him to fail, who want him to fall on his face, who won’t support him because he’s not from the right party or philosophy, I have no time for you either.

We’re in too much trouble to continue to play these bullshit partisan games.  “We’ll give Obama the exact same respect and support that the far left gave Bush!”

Listen you dumbshits, we’re in trouble.  We HAVE to come together.  We HAVE to.  I’m not thrilled that it’s under a man who seems to be a socialist at heart, but dammit, we gotta start somewhere.