America's Finest Hour

This is an open letter to the people of America. Today is a great day. A day when your country takes one more step toward putting blatant racism behind it. Of course we here in Canada need to take a moment to realize that as much as we like to think we’re more enlightened, we also need to take a look at ourselves and challenge ourselves to remove racism from our lives. The fact is it exists and quite often it exists in the quiet of our minds. An uncomfortable feeling when you’re around people different than yourself. People who are racist aren’t always bad people. They’re just people who can’t get past the fact that our differences are far less than the similarities we all have as humans.

So today is a great day. America moves forward in its history. My huge concern is the great weight they have now put on the shoulders of this man. He is a man, not a Messiah. The media, Hollywood, every day people have decided that this man can bring on massive change. He’s a politician. He’s promised the American people a bill of goods and suddenly, they’ve decided he’s the one who can achieve it? I’m too much of a realist to believe that one man, no matter how great his oratory skills, can change a government system that’s been over 200 years in the making.

When the sun rises on Barack Obama’s first day in the Presidency there will still be a congress, there will still be a senate, there will still be lobbyists, there will still be layers and layers and layers of government bureaucracy. Plus, there will still be state governments which have tremendous power in the U.S.

Sixteen years ago today Bill Clinton was inaugurated. He too was swept into the White House on a promise of change. He too promised hope and often spoke of having been born in Hope, Arkansas. Eight years later, he’d made a few changes, but he’d also made far more mistakes. Bill Clinton was a smart man, a hard worker and a believer in many of the same values as Barack Obama. Then he came to Washington and ran into the system that exists inside the Beltway.

I hope Barack Obama has tremendous success. I hope that the people who make up government in the U.S. will work with him to change Washington. I hope that he can bring a new peace minded United States of America, to the world. I hope that even a smidgen of the promise that is Barack Obama can come true. However, most of all, I hope that people don’t give up on him and his dream when things don’t seem to be going that well.

Barack Obama takes on a massive project today. The hopes and dreams of a nation rest on his shoulders. The hopes and dreams of a race of people rest on his shoulders. The hopes and dreams of a world that needs the United States to help bring about an economic turn around rest on his shoulders. Here’s to hoping he’s the most successful President the world has ever known. But more important, here’s to hoping that people cut him some slack when he isn’t, and that we just appreciate that he’s trying and we all need to try along with him.

Congratulations America. Now, lets get to work.