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Steven Weber

Steven Weber

Posted January 19, 2009 | 12:38 AM (EST)

America, Renewed


While watching the celebrations in the run up to this Tuesday's inauguration, I was struck by the realization that we are seeing an America George Bush and Dick Cheney and all their assorted culprits did not want us to see. Their America gave comfort to its enemies and struck fear in its friends. This Tuesday, the America seen by the world will be the complete opposite. It will be renewed.

In the renewed America, Lincoln, Jefferson and the country's founders are resurrected as more than striated, heavy-lidded profiles on currency; they will become once again vital participants in a daily conversation, a conversation which extends beyond their iconic memorials and once again makes their ideas and ideals practical and accessible to the people of this nation.

In the renewed America, the enthusiasm for our new president is authentic, outright joy, a torrent of emotion dammed by years of thuggery and arrogance that marked the Bush Administration's fraudulent reign.

Just today in a renewed America, the waters on the Great Mall were still and solid as a result of the chilling Winter winds, but also still and solid as if in anticipation of the millions of feet it would need to support, the feet of the respectful, the moved, the finally mattering masses who see in Obama a brother, a father, a friend in a high place who just might acknowledge their existence in way that doesn't have to put money in their pocket but hope in their heart, that doesn't have to bribe, threaten and cajole people to participate, but rather who will gather this Tuesday willingly, lovingly.

In a renewed America, it is the beginning of the end of the demonization of all we have always known to be good--thrift, service, wisdom, compassion -- and the lauding of all we've known to be bad -- aggression, greed, deception, secrecy, hegemony.

And with America renewed, such is the world's collective sigh of relief which gives way to a cheer of exaltation. The Bush Time is well gone, though there is much to clean up after the damage it inflicted; damage which dwarfs that inflicted by Katrina and Iraq and the thousand black holes of despair snuffing out the thousand points of light.

In our nation's still young but storied existence there have been many nightmares endured, some self-inflicted, others visited upon us. We now awaken refreshed and renewed, ready once again to start the day.

And when President Barack Obama is faced with his crucible -- and he will, surely -- we will now fully understand and embrace the reason for facing it with him. For in a renewed America, we will no longer be resentful but grateful, united as a nation of individuals with a stake in it's future, for we will have faced our own crucible in the form of the Bush Administration and finally, humbly triumphed.

On Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 we will become America, Renewed.

While watching the celebrations in the run up to this Tuesday's inauguration, I was struck by the realization that we are seeing an America George Bush and Dick Cheney and all their assorted culprits ...
While watching the celebrations in the run up to this Tuesday's inauguration, I was struck by the realization that we are seeing an America George Bush and Dick Cheney and all their assorted culprits ...
 
 
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05:54 PM on 01/21/2009
"a friend in a high place who acknowledges my existence".....you put my feelings into words. All of a sudden I feel different. Even a poor, barely-making-it senior citizen like me feels like I have a voice, like they know what is happening to so many like me. Bravo!
08:38 AM on 01/20/2009
"the finally mattering masses" - exactly! Well said Steven.
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Social Construct
Go left, young man.
08:14 AM on 01/20/2009
File that in your briefs and eat it, Justice Scalia!
Um, he's the only real neo-con of substance and status left I could think of at this moment. A moment that will linger and resonate within my mind; bringing echoes of hope to my thoughts when the tribulations brought about by past decisions of government driven by Machiavellian ideologies assault my senses. Good luck, President Obama.
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03:20 AM on 01/20/2009
Well said Steven. It's almost like a movie script, isn't it? The happy ending that no movie critic would buy after the equally unbelievable script of the Bush years.
And yet it's all true. Our democracy is being given yet another glorious shot at redemption, after every evil shot has been taken to destroy it
Somebody up there must like us after all.
dessertsfirst
because life is too short!!
02:17 AM on 01/20/2009
It's been such a long time coming.
Isn't it wonderful!!
01:36 AM on 01/20/2009
Until America sends Bush and his Neocons to the Hague for war crimes, I will never be satisfied with this renewal.
02:41 AM on 01/20/2009
ditto
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Pyrum
03:43 AM on 01/20/2009
Don't hold your breath.
05:43 AM on 01/20/2009
Yes.
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11:00 AM on 01/20/2009
I agree as well.

And I am also concerned because Obama seems to be back-peddling on torture. He's made a statement that he's considering still allowing "tainted evidence" (evidence attained by torturing prisoners!) to be used against certain defendants. And he's made a statement saying he's considering endorsing a loophole that would still allow the CIA to continue to use "robust interrogation techniques".

There are some things that you simply cannot compromise on.

Torture is one of them.

Obama needs to stand up and unequivocally say that torture is wrong. And that not only will no one else be tortured, but that those who ordered people to be tortured will be investigated and prosecuted.
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Scoppertop
Sunny Side
01:18 AM on 01/20/2009
The Obama Presidency will restore the respect of the people for the White House. It's been a long time coming.
01:14 AM on 01/20/2009
You've been waiting a while to be able to write this article, eh Mr Weber? Well played, sir!

Well, the day is virtually here - thanks for your articles during the darkest bits, and lets get rolling into a brighter future!
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MAragon
09:36 PM on 01/19/2009
My Mom and I've been comparing notes - we live in a DC suburb and work in DC - and we've never seen anything like this and it's wonderful. Everyone is in such good spirits.
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gfs5541
09:19 PM on 01/19/2009
I'm hopeful too. Anything's got to be hopeful after the last 8 years.
08:49 PM on 01/19/2009
Steven, there are those of us in the GLBT community who don't feel so renewed. It feels like business as usual for us.
08:18 PM on 01/19/2009
We stopped living under the tyranny of the schoolyard bully and his gang and picked the smart kid to run things. The bullies won't be pleased. The rest of us will.
08:17 PM on 01/19/2009
Good piece, Steven. I hope you're right. A hopeful sign is the grousing naysayers appear vastly outnumbered.
08:15 PM on 01/19/2009
While a capable wordsmith, you seem to forget the controversy surrounding the selection for Treasury head. He "forgot" to pay taxes, a "common" mistake they say. I find this disturbing, and feel he should remove himself from the running. I was late paying the state $5 in taxes and had my home threatened. For all his forgetting, he was not assessed a penny in fees. But a new dawn is bringing "change". The cult of personality is being used to blind people to the installation of a new Clinton-esque cabinet, and we all know how upright that administration was.
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offred
A biocitizen is 3/5 of a corporate citizen
08:36 PM on 01/19/2009
No, Geithner paid both the back taxes and the penalties.
08:48 PM on 01/19/2009
AFTER he was nominated, and AFTER he had avoided paying them for SEVEN years. He was only charged interest, no penalties or fees. You and I would be jailed, and if he is so intelligent, this is even more unbelieveable. Tax evasion is not a disqualifier to participate in the fleecing of America.
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Steven Weber
Winner of 1967 Pond's Cold Cream Man of the Year
12:47 AM on 01/20/2009
Yeah. That Clinton cabinet sure was lousy, what with that pesky surplus and all. I mean, not like the saints that comprised the outgoing administration. Oh Zippy, Zippy, Zippy...
01:08 AM on 01/20/2009
Taxes are only for the little people, according to Rangel and Geithner.
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03:04 AM on 01/20/2009
Yeah, and all those awful Clinton era jobs! I couldn't get laid off no matter how hard I tried! "You're gonna have to tough it out kid," the boss told me. There ain't nobody waitin' in line for your job.
And the peace! That dreadful lack of major wars! The Clinton years were just terrible for warmongers and action-adventure fans. ;)
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offred
A biocitizen is 3/5 of a corporate citizen
08:06 PM on 01/19/2009
An added bonus: Dubya will never again exercise the power of life and death over a prisoner, or the power to keep a wrongfully incarcerated prisoner in jail. Hallelujah!