Whew!

I wasn’t sure if I was happier to see Obama in, or Bush out.

One of the most miraculous things about the American Constitution is that eventually even the war criminals have to give up the Oval Office.

Perhaps the most striking thing about Barack Hussein Obama is not his race, but his name.  Of the last 42 presidents (Cleveland was president twice, remember), the vast majority have had Anglo-Saxon-Norman-Celtic last names, with a few Knickerbockers and 1 Pennsylvania Dutch.  America hasn’t looked like that for a long time; it’s about time the Presidency has caught up.

This article on the ethnic background of the President was one of the most beautiful things in yesterday’s New York Times.  This is what America looks like.

When President Obama returns home for vacations (and let us hope it is far less frequently than his predecessor), he will be heading to a major urban center instead of a ranch.  Sarah Palin and “the Real America” notwithstanding, most Americans live in metropolitan areas.  It is Obama, not Palin, who represents the Real America.

Obama’s Inaugural Address showed an unusual combination of class and balls.

We have replaced a President whose normal facial expression is “deer in the headlights” with one whose face shows intelligence and focus.

The next few years are going to be hard, and Obama, while hyper-competent, is no superhero.  Still, just a few days before the birth of my child, I felt much as though my mother must have felt when she saw the moon landing, 9 days after my birth: a miracle has occurred, hallelujah.

Was I the only one who, watching the Obamas escort the Bushes to the helicopter, thought that it looked very much like a security guard escorting a persona non grata from the building?

Words used by Barack Obama are the featured theme in this week’s A Word A Day.  At last, literacy in the White House.

Obama issued an executive order freezing all pending Bush regulations until review.  This year, our peaceful transition of power feels more like a bloodless coup.