January 20, 2009 Edition

Good Morning All,

As there is little new I can add to the overwhelmingly thorough coverage of this most important inauguration week, I will instead reflect upon the points of change which I believe to be most important. Since I took my first tentative steps toward the possibility of an Obama Presidency in a letter I wrote away back in the fall of 2007, much has come about, both to Obama and to the America that dared to embrace him, and although in these closing days it appears to be all about one man, it has also become evident through time that this dream has grown to be increasingly inclusive of the caring and hopeful people who may not have supported or voted for him, or even voted at all.

This change of which everyone speaks is not just transitional. It is transformational, for whatever happens henceforth, nothing will ever be remotely the same in American or, dare I say, global politics. The change in Washington and in America is one in which pragmatism will replace the strictures of ideology, where ideas and curiosity will overpower the rote of Republican cant, and where the solutions to the complex problems of the world will be addressed with knowledge and thoughtfulness, not just the simple reactions of tax cuts, deregulation and military might that have gotten us to this present place of enormous danger.

The going, as Barack and the rest of us are wont to repeat, will be difficult and "the climb will be steep" but we have collectively taken a step back from the abyss and and have begun the ascent. Were I a person of religious faith I would indeed offer a prayer for both his safety and our future, metaphorically I suppose I already have.Let the renaissance begin.