Mulligan!

You probably all saw that President Obama took the oath of office a second time, due to Chief Justice Roberts' misspeaking on Tuesday. As soon as it happened, I knew it was inevitable that there would be some that would question whether or not he was really President. As sure as night follows day, the question was raised, so the oath was given a second time. Apparently, there was no constitutional basis for the redo, because at noon on Tuesday, George Bush ceased being President, and Barack Obama became our new President. The oath followed a few minutes later. Considering all the brouhaha over whether or not he should have been the Democratic nominee, then whether he was a Christian or a Muslim (which has no bearing on his eligibility for President), then whether or not he was even an American citizen, they decided that a "do-over" was prudent. I agree. Even if you're not happy about him being our President, I think it's time to accept it and move on!

I had a couple of emails from my Supervisor at the lab, Mary. The only person I ever worked with who maybe knew more about Microbiology than Mary was the Ph.D. who ran the Micro lab where I worked in North Dakota. I feel like I learned a lot from her in the ten years we worked together, and I think she is a remarkable woman. Anyhoo, when the primaries were going on, and the fight between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama was heating up, I was curious to get her opinion on Obama. Mary is from Chicago, and I wanted her perspective as a black woman, so one day I asked her what she thought about Obama. She told me that she had originally supported Clinton, but she was starting to find out more about Obama, and that she was really impressed by him. I don't think she had thrown her support behind him at that time, but she was pretty close. After I stopped working, we exchanged the occasional email about the election, and realized we were on the same page.

She ended up doing a lot of work for Obama's campaign, and come to find out, she got to go to the inauguration! She took her granddaughter, who is probably around 10 or so now, too. How cool is that? I asked for her impressions about it, and for her permission to put her thoughts up here. She kindly granted permission, so here is Mary's take on it.

As for the trip, all I can say is that if you remember how you felt watching it on TV, it was 10 times that being there among the millions. To be standing there full of emotion, among so many other people also full of emotion, watching even more people also full of emotion, observing history in the making, was overwhelming! It felt like being filled up almost to the point of being "airborne". It will be a week tomorrow and I still feel like I am bouncing up and down on my toes.

Yes, President Obama is just a man, but those who fail to grasp the significance of having this man, as president at this time, just do not get it. To have such a pessimistic outlook and not dare to hope, is their loss. Yes, he is the first African-American president, and that in itself is huge, but who he is, the extent and the direction he wants to move this country at this time of need (2 wars, financial disasters and economic crisis, etc., etc.,) is HUGE!

It is generally agreed that the economy will get worse before it gets better. We have a lot to be afraid of, but I would rather choose hope, to feel and believe that there will be a positive outcome under the leadership of our new president. He is someone who sees the big picture, feels compassion for those affected, listens to all with courtesy and respect, and is so smart and goal-oriented, that he can see how to navigate toward the goal. The hardest part will be to get others to understand so that they can help, and if they cannot, convince them to not stand in the way of others.

I'm so happy for her that she got to go. Just seeing pictures of it gets to me, so I can just imagine the emotions that she experienced being there. I also think that my friend Mary needs to sit Rush Limbaugh down and have a good talk with him and tell him to get out of the way. I don't think Mister I-Hope-He-Fails would stand a chance with her. I bet all my friends at the lab who know Mary are going, "Yep, you're probably right." Ha ha! You find out pretty quickly that it's useless to get into an argument with Mary. You can't win. She has an amazing talent.

Remember a while back when I said that I don't get the mentality of anyone who would actually wish for the guy to fail? He's the leader of our country...if he fails, our country suffers. Leave it to Limbaugh to come right out and say that he hopes Obama fails. He backpedaled like mad, saying that of course he wants the liberal agenda to fail, blah-di-blah-blah, but I don't doubt for a moment that he meant exactly what he said the first time. He wants Obama to fail. I was happy to hear that Obama called him and the GOP on the carpet about it and basically said they can either stick with Rush or they can get things done. About time someone shot an arrow at that gasbag's balloon.

I'm sure Limbaugh would think that the picture with the caption that I made is a little juvenile. Oh yeah? Well, I know you are, but what am I?

Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you more about how I really feel! [grin]