On Tuesday, Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the 44th president of the United States. (Later he retook it, after he and Roberts both messed it up, and neither one had the brains to say, "Let's start over.")
But there was a small part of me that kept thinking, even after Election Day, even after the Electoral College met, even after the House counted and ratified the Electoral College vote (or do they certify?), that perhaps Barack Obama would never actually become president and the Bush administration. In fact, even after the oath was taken, the speech given, the luncheon attended and the parade ran its route, there was still that feeling of suspicion that something was going to again delay Barack being able to get to work and sort things out.
How glad I am that I was wrong, and he did walk into the Oval Office on Wednesday morning, take off his suit coat and get to work.
President Obama is already the target of criticism, but that is how it should be. We cannot afford to live in a society that pays obeisence to the president.
We should be respectful to the office (e.g. booing President Bush at the Inaugural was tacky -- wrong time and place), but the man is just the man. There is a reason the president is referred to as "Mr." and that reason goes back to George Washington. He recognized that for the Republic to work, the president needed to be not a king but a man from the people. The requirements for the office are only age and citizenship; there are no requirements for education, other political experience, or social standing.
So we should cut Barack some slack -- after all, how many new heads of any organization can move in with no learning curve? -- but not too much.
After all, we asked him to be there. And it has really happened.
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