The Light of Day

This is the first of what I am hoping will be many posts. I am not a writer by trade or education, but I am an avid reader and consumer of interesting works. I am a daily reader of opinion pieces and blogs – reading many and agreeing with a few. While I am an avowed centrist and believe in personal accountability, I belong to a shrinking middle class who wonders just how we will ever get out of our current predicament. I cautiously support the government spending more money, but wish that money had an impact on regular citizens instead of the wealthy elite who have run our ship aground with their deceptions and greed.

It is not a mistake that this blog begins on the first full day of Obama's presidency. It is now the second day in a row that I feel hopeful and perhaps even proud of my country – but it has been so long since I have felt that way that I may be misconstruing those feelings. At any rate, I will try (for as long as I can) to continue to feel hopeful and appreciative as a new administration takes the reins of government and represents the interests of most of us instead of just a few of us. It will be a nice change, and really, since he is following Bush (and the bar is thus incredibly low) Obama only has to do something for the common man to be a success in my eyes.

I watched today as Obama froze the salaries of his top staff and changed the way lobbying will be conducted in his administration. It's just a first step, but it's a good start and miles away from where this nation was only a few days ago.

My intent here will be to document and comment on the new administration and its impact on those of us who have felt for a long time that we have not been very well represented. It is my hope that this will be a happier blog as time moves forward and my anger, resentment and outright disgust with the Bush administration begins to dissipate. But I fear that so much damage has been done to this country, and indeed the world over the past eight years, that happiness will not be mine soon.

Here's to finding our way through the mess we have on our doorstep. It should be easier now that we have a leader with humble origins - who has been a common man and felt the pain of having less than what was needed. He's already got a leg up on those who had never known what suffering was – what sacrifice was like.

Let the catharsis begin.......

“ Things can't get any worse, they got to get better

Well I'm a little down under, but I'm feeling O.K.
I got a little lost along the way

I'm just around the corner to the light of day” - Bruce Springsteen