the big house library

Finally, after eight long years of horror and deceit and and lies and backstabbing, the Bush administration has come to an end. After the invention of two incredibly expensive wars half way around the world and torture in Guantanamo Bay and the ignoring of the US Constitution inself, a new era of hope was ushered in today.

What we all witnessed today was not just the swearing-in of a President; nor was it just the swearing-in of a black man. It was swearing-in an era of promise and potential for this struggling, empty country. The carrier of all of this just happened to be African-American.

Although Obama downplayed, out of necessity, the race issue on the campaign trail, nobody can fully say that race didn't matter, because it did. Not because I believe that Obama is less intelligent or inferior because of it, but because it was just such a momentous step. It was a gigantic transition for the black communities, and for the entire country as well.

Now there is a whole generation that will take for granted that the office of President can be filled by anyone, including blacks and whites. Finally teachers and parents can tell their students and children that race doesn't matter, and that anyone really can be President, because, intentional or not, there has always been a slight shadow cast over the African-Americans due to the fact that history pages are dominated by whites. But not anymore.

I and most of my friends grew up under the end of the Clinton administration, but our most formative years, when we start to form our own opinions about life and the real world, were spent under President Bush. Bush created a huge wave of hatred and spread it around the world, and as a results many of my peers and I have developed a hatred of our own. We said it was for the corruption of the government, but it wasn't. It was only for Bush's government, which was the only one we knew. But now we have a chance to actually admit to being proud to be Americans.

One hundred and fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation was passed; Over half a century after Jackie Robinson first broke the color barrier on the baseball field; Decades after Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech about his dream; finally all these steps have come to a head today and allowed a black man to be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America.

An impressive accomplishment, indeed. Let Obama last eight full years and lead the country back to it's former glory.

coolio

While I am extremely happy, that we,as a country. were able to overcome the huge hurdle of race and electing an African American (does that have a hyphen?), I personally don't like some of Barack Obama's ideas or policies. He was very fickle on a few of his statements. I think we were too eager to show our acceptance of everyone, and rushed into something based on something less important then what really matters; I'm not sure the country is ready for it.

I'm not trying to be hateful, it would be awful for anything to happen to Mr. Obama, or his family, or anyone, and I don't think racism is okay, would I want to discriminated against? No! why should anyone else?

CGHS 9th Grader