Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A good day

There have been a million or so words printed, posted and spoke about the inauguration of Barack Obama today. I contributed about 400 or so for the day job, hopefully without too much grandiosity or seriousness.
President Barack Obama is a man, just like me. He is not omniprescient nor divinely touched. He has an awesome task ahead of him and he will, most likely, fall short on some counts. To think otherwise is naive. To be honest, I secretly wished that Al Gore had been the Democratic nominee heading into the fall campaign. I could credibly argue the Gore would be a better president.
I underestimated the junior senator from Illnois, as did his opponents. With every passing day, he showed confidence without hubris. He ran with purpose, never succumbing to the scummy tactics of his supposedly honorable opponent or the Greek chorus of commentators on Fox News and talk radio desperate to tear him down. He always acted and never reacted. He never pandered to any faction.
Barack Obama is not Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He faces challenges Wednesday different from those legendary American leaders. Luckily for us, he sought the presidency to make this a better place, rather than to show up his dad or to be the next John Kennedy. I am confident, however, that he will prove equal, or even superior, to the task before him.
The president has the opportunity to bring black Americans fully and enthusiastically into our country's governance, and convince recalcitrant whites that there struggle is the blacks' struggle. He has the opportunity to undo 30 years of simplistic, vicious economic practices and restore dignity and security to working people. He can make America a friend worth having again around the world.
I am not afraid that Barack Obama will fail, because he is not afraid of failing.
This is a good day for America.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Bacon sausage

I am basking in the afterglow of cheddar scrambled eggs and bacon sausage right now. I don't know who invented bacon sausage (tenderloin with bacon ground in), but I want to kiss them on the mouth.
It's cold up here and the snow hasn't went anywhere, but, from what I can tell, we're about halfway through the bad stuff. You can see signs of cabin fever everywhere; the people up here love being on the water. For now they have to settle for ice fishing, so things are getting a teensy bit edgy.
The day job is good. The holiday news slump is ending and we're getting back to some decent news holes. Ads are way down, but that's normal for this time of year. The publisher is a pretty good operator and is using the down time to get ready for the return of tourist season. The Lake People won't be able to handle such a stepped up effort.
I've had to trim a bit in the newsroom, but that actually looks like its going to work out. My sports kid is leaving to join the ministry, which sucks because he's really stepped up his game here, but one of the guys I had to cut back is a perfect replacement. I hope he takes the job. The other guy I cut back has another FT gig anyway, so he was a good sport about the whole thing.
The big move is working out for me, all told. There's just enough money for cable and groceries up there while making the note on the house in Indy, the people up are ridiculously friendly and I catch myself enjoying journalism a little more everyday.
It's been a long time since I could say that.