The Country Was Made Ours

I know I have emphasized this theme before, but I can't tell you what a relief it is to have the Reign of Error over (I don't know who to credit for that turn of phrase; I saw it on the internet somewhere and thought it's perfectly appropriate). I love that Obama was inaugurated today. But I have to confess that I think I loved Bush leaving more. That was the world's greatest helicopter ride out of town.

I was even more relieved when they swore Joe Biden in, knowing that Dick Cheney could not torture one more man, break one more law or invade one more wrong country.

I feel released from the oppression of one more injustice or one more grave error around the corner. What will they do next? What heinous or negligent act lies ahead for us? But, now it's over. It feels like a burden has been lifted off of me. I feel liberated.

The liberation of America has begun!

The reason for my relief is not my abiding faith that Obama can do no wrong or will make no mistakes. It rides on one single idea - he will do his best. Unlike Bush, he will be diligent, intelligent, responsible and caring. And that makes all the difference.

It's not that Bush didn't care about anybody. I'm sure he loves his family and thinks he loves his country. What I mean is that he didn't care to do the job right. He didn't take his responsibility seriously. It didn't keep him up at night. He didn't diligently think through his actions. He didn't appreciate the consequences of his decisions. He was careless with our well-being.

Obama might not always do right, but I believe he will at least try with all his might. That is the new faith I have in our president and in our country.

And in that light, let me end on this note. I wasn't sure the Roosevelts, the Kennedys or the Bushes really represented me. Not that they were all bad presidents, because they surely weren't (not all of them at least). But because I wasn't sure they were one of us.

Were they from a different class of people? Were they part of a different group I didn't have a chance of joining? Did they rule us instead of lead us?

Bill Clinton was genuinely middle-class. He seemed to show that a real American without any connections or privileges could make it to the top. But you always wondered. Was there something we didn't know about Clinton's connections to the world of the powerful?

With Obama those doubts have been erased. Obama wasn't born as anybody. Obama didn't know anybody. Obama became somebody. It turns out there are no secret elites that exist above us. We are truly a democracy. Any of us can make it.

With this inauguration, this country was made ours. For the first time - as much as I have loved it before - I feel like it is truly our own now. Any one of us can really be the first among equals. The hope that America actually stands for what it proclaims has been realized. That is not to be underestimated. And that is part of why so many people were out in Washington, DC today. Because they came to their inauguration.

America was made real today.

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Comments

[denicci1977]

Beautiful post Cenk ! Seriously, today was a great day just out and around period. Everyone seemed so friendly, the air seemed much lighter to breathe in and it felt peaceful. It was such a relief to see Bush sitting behind President Obama and just having to listen and take it, then scurry off to do what he has been doing the past 8 years. I love the way Obama handled his first day of work. FINALLY WORK ! It seems as if he did more work in one day -his first day then Bush did the past 8 years...I don't hold extremely high expectations for Obama because no one is perfect, but like you I do think that he is on the right track and will try his best and work his butt off for this country. I have good expectations that I believe he can meet, but realistic all of these things won't get done even in one year. But I am so assured to know that progress even little by little will be made and that is so much better than the horrible, untrustworthy backpeddling that went on during the Bush/Cheney reign.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

"But you always wondered. Was there something we didn't know about Clinton's connections to the world of the powerful?"

Some believe the 'connection' was in fact detailed by Pulitzer Prize winner Gary Webb.

[tuttlemsm]

Couldn't agree more. Everybody take notice. Cenk Uygur is the guy on Huffington Post who gets it right more than anyone else.

And hey, if we can elect a guy named Barack Obama in 2008... maybe there's a chance for Cenk Uygur in 2016!

[Mnemanth]

Oh, no it's not. Not as long as congress continues their behavior. I think in the mounting excitement over President Obama, congress has been overlooked, and have been taking advantage of the quiet. Let's turn the spot light on these, the other monsters still among us, and really to get to cleaning up our government.
Bush and his buddies were a small group, compared to the others still snug in the dark.

[MrJoyboy]

Yes, it does feel like we've all been paroled from the Bush-Cheney prison after serving an eight-year sentence.

[itmaybetoolate]

Cenk, I understand what you are saying but I have to say that as a gay man, the inclusion of rick warren ruined the day for me. I could not help feeling that there was a footnote to everything he said about equality and opportunity that reads: "except for gays and lesbians."

I was able to only watch the actual oath, and that was at least partly due to my need to know that bush was no longer president.

I do know that you are a supporter of same-sex marriage and I thank you for that.

[CBaker2]

itmaybetoolate,

I got a chance to see the whole Inauguration. Warren's participation was such a minor part of the whole event. He was included and he was put in his box and that was that. Watching Rev. Joseph Lowery give the benediction, though, completely made me forget that Warren was even there. And I think that's how it's going to be: he was included but the voice he had was so small compared to Obama's speech, the beautiful quartet, the poem and Lowery's benediction.

I watched in San Francisco (visiting from NYC) and we were a microcosm of America sitting on one sofa: a married lesbian couple (one of which is East Coast Iris, the other is half Japanese/half American), a New York Jewish girl and me, a transplanted to New York Texan Black guy who's in love with the New York Jewish girl. Hope in all it's forms.

Rick who?

[djveed]

Great post Cenk. And well written. To be honest - it's been such a long time that I've forgotten what the American dream and American freedom actually feels like. It's a nice change.

[tenngirlsdad]

Give it a rest . The country was always yours, you were just too busy being a victim to realize it. You make your life what it is. Nobody can limit you if you are determined and stay with it.

[tuttlemsm]

I suppose the innocent people arbitrarily snatched off the streets and tortured in Bush's camps all over the world were "just too busy being victims" too.

[Topsailsman]

Is that you, Joel Osteen? If I send you money, will god make me rich?

[drock973]

Is it hard making the switch from Hate America to Love America overnight?

[NoFactsJustTruth]

Perhaps you should ask republiants as they typically HATE anything different from themselves, proving they never understood 'OUR country' in the first place. Liberals were always inclusive of everyone and would even happily include republicants if they quit HATING.

[tuttlemsm]

As Al Franken once pointed out, right-wingers love the country the way a toddler loves his mommy. You can't say anything bad about my mommy!! Wahhh!!

Liberals love the country critically. Liberals love it most when it actually lives up to the ideals it professes. That's the difference.

[Topsailsman]

Obviously you equate agreeing with right wing ideology to loving the country. Two different things.

[plumnelly]

It's the people's house again. The Bush administration had occupied our White House with thugs and used it for their own fear driven policies. No more!

[NoFactsJustTruth]

I might give you a partial 'OUR country', Cenk, but let us not forget this nation's true impediment to having a country that's 'by, for and of the people'. I refer to a CONgress that continues to be lobby-bought through campaign donations, that first listens to corporate and industry lobbyists on ANY issue and that also often shows zero integrity by pre-engineering close votes behind closed doors. Such votes are mostly to try and convince citizens how hard CONgress fights on their behalf ...uh huh. CONgress continuously denies and subverts the will of the people to the benefit of favored corporations and industries, and lately even passes what are known to be unconstitutional changes to The Constitution itself -- without anything so arcane as an Amendment being presented to the States for a two-thirds vote.

So, I might then also suggest there's considerable work to do - before ever it becomes 'OUR' Congress.

[plzchuteme]

Good post, and an important post. There's a good reason why Congress was less popular than George Bush. People may not realize the precise reasons that they don't trust or approve of the job that Congress is doing, they just know that they don't. "I may not know much about art (or government), but I know what I like (or don't like)." Back room "wheelin' 'n dealin'" and greasy palms have become so ingrained in the system, that people have become sensitized to them, especially when the pork is delivered. Then there's the "homer" attitude that all the other party's members, or other states' members suffer from lack of judgment or ethics, but MY senator or congressman is not one of them.

[Dukedraven]

I think you're on to something about Clinton, Cenk. He seems to know the secret handshake. Have you noticed his eerily close bond to Bush Sr.? Regarding Bush Jr., all he had to do was say his lines and not bump into the furniture as president, and he couldn't even do that.

[ihavenobias]

Great post Cenk.

[cam]

I got the impression that it was only when Bush heard the inaugural address that he got the job description.

Obama's speech eviscerated the Bush presidency by contextualizing it. Doubtless, in his mind, Bush could refute Obama's speech point by point, but how does the most deluded of men stay the avalanche of failures that cascaded down upon him that day?

Whenever the camera cut to him his face reflected his state of mind. No longer protected from reality, he was finally understanding the thing that he had not done had undone him. If he had simply done what he was supposed to -- protect the constitution -- he might yet have something to regret.

But there would be no need to deny.

[Luigi53102]

Jon Stewart nailed that one - said that Bush was sitting there listening to Obama speak, and thinking "Man, he sure is hammering Clinton!"

[R-Dog]

It deeply bothers me that somehow the election of BO means that is now your country. This country is now and alway s will be OUR country. And by our I mean everyone of us on both sides of the aisle. By your remark it now means that for 58 million of us who voted for McCain that it is not our country anymore. This country is no less ours than it was yours 24 hours ago.

[getrealalready]

R-Dog: You were included. Have you never heard of poetic license or are you feeling Limbaugh's pain?

[Irmanator]

He says "our" and "us" many times in this article.
As you are a big McCain fan, please indicate how BO could have treated McCain, or any Republican of your choice, better since he won on November 4th.

[gsuescum]

Oh come on now. That's not what he meant. He meant it is ALL our country again and not that of the corporations and super-rich.