Rep. Carol Shea-Porter Sums Up The Day: "Joy Has Replaced Despair"

I just got back from getting tomorrow morning's blueberries at NatureMart on Hillhurst Avenue. Their giant billboard wasn't advertising any of their products today. It just says: "Changes Comes To America-- President Obama." When I got home I found a note from Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH). "We have a new president and a renewal of hope. I was so honored to watch, less than fifty feet away, as President Obama took his oath of office and shared his vision of America with all of us. Exuberance and celebration and hope and relief were on the people's faces. Joy has replaced despair."

Most Americans are trying to keep it positive and just celebrate Obama. I'm betting about half the feelings of joy and relief are that Bush is gone. Oh, the wingnuts and the dupes of the Bush Legacy Project are talking about how wonderful he is. But that sentiment is shared by very few Americans. He went out with a 22% approval rating-- a lot better than Cheney's 13%-- but still... what a disgrace!

And it isn't just Americans who are overflowing with joy to see Bush go. In today's Guardian Jeremy Lott discounts the far right extremists to declare We Are All Bush-Haters Now. "Even those conservatives who defended him while in office," he writes, "will now face a stark choice: repudiate much of Bush's legacy or be rendered ridiculous.

For example, unpaid Bush shill Fred Barnes recently wrote "for the editors" of the Weekly Standard that "Bush had 10 great achievements (and maybe more) in his eight years in the White House." Among his undisputed successes on the foreign policy front were "enhanced interrogation of terrorists," "the rebuilding of presidential authority" and "the surge."

That an organ of conservative opinion would tout Bush's moves toward torture and autocracy should be shocking. Notably absent from Barnes's list was Bush's decision to launch the invasion of Iraq in the first place, so the best that one of Bush's most ardent defenders can say is that Bush managed to partially ameliorate one of his worst calls. That should change hearts and minds all right.

Bush leaves behind a Republican party that is reduced in numbers and respect and too militaristic for the hawkish American people, an obese government that is substantially larger than the overweight one he inherited, a busted budget and a bleeding economy. History shouldn't forget that, and it isn't going to.

The right wing blogs and talk show hosts from Limbaugh to Hannity are overflowing like sewers right now but instead of ending this hopeful and historic day dwelling on thethe predictable negativity from the far right, I'd like to recall the most uplifting speech I heard during the festivities. It was delivered by Rev. Joseph Lowery, a close colleague of Martin Luther King's, a hero of the Civil Rights Movement, and a man bitterly loathed by Republican stalwarts for his fight against the apartheid government of South Africa that was once the ultimate call to arms for American wingnuts.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand-- true to thee, O God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you're able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed-- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.
We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.

Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around--- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow-- (laughter)-- when the red man can get ahead, man-- (laughter)-- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.