Good Riddance W! And Helloooo Barack Obama!

Winter is far from over - especially for those in the northeast of North America, however, after a lengthy forced slumber of eight years, I can awake again. Farewell (to quote Maureen Dowd) to "the parody of a monosyllabic Western gunslinger who disdains nuance," and welcome to "a complex polysyllabic professor sort who will make a decision only after he has held it up to the light and examined it from all sides."

In just a couple days, careful thought, consideration, collaboration, nuance and the Constitution and human rights will once again be valued. I will no longer have to hear how all the world's ills are the result of an unending arch battle between the good and the 'evil doers.' I will once again want to watch the State of the Union address instead of rushing to press the mute button on the remote.
Americans and the global community have paid a very steep price for the past eight years. There is much that has to be fixed. And there needs to be a signficant shift from the atmosphere of hostility and distrust created by the Bush administration nationally and globally. The collapse of the global economy and the recent Israeli incursion into Gaza clearly demonstrates the high cost of a lack of U.S. leadership.

And so with bated breath, we wait for January 21, 2009, a day after the inauguration, when the first bi-racial/mixed heritage president of the United States starts his work in the Oval office.

But until then we party! WELCOME and GOOD LUCK PRESIDENT OBAMA!