Making History, Round II

In 2009, I kept JT home from school to watch Barack Obama's inauguration.  It was a making history sort of day, and I wanted my boy to be a part of it.   That it was the first presidential inauguration he would remember was distinct in my mind.  I know that children develop a sense of government and political identity from the first president they remember and I wanted my son's memory and sense of the presidency to be of the nation's first African-American president.

That day felt exciting and full of promise.  In the four years of President Obama's first term, the progress made toward fulfilling the promise was palpable and real.  The Obama Administration has delivered on a range of issues that really matter to me.  From the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (the first bill President Obama signed into law) to his recent willingness to take on gun control, I am pleased with this president.  That's not to say that the work is done, or that things are perfect.  It's just that I feel we are making progress in the right direction.

On election day, as President Obama secured a well-deserved second term, I felt like I could actually breathe a sigh of relief.  I am not under the impression that the next four years will be easy.  There is plenty of unfinished business and dealing with the Tea Party tyrants in the House would challenge the most patient of leaders.  But that's what I value about President Obama: his willingness to express ideas, draft solutions, and get in the weeds.  The ways in which he patiently works to untie the knot that is the contemporary American political system demonstrates an enduring leadership that I greatly value.   He is a grown up and a man of ideas.  He is my son's vision of a president.  In that, I find great hope.