I didn’t get to watch Barack Obama’s inauguration live. While millions of Americans across the United States experienced the largest presidential inauguration in history via television, radio, or in person, I was lugging my books somewhere between Capen and Norton, whimpering to myself as wind blasted my face and ice soaked my socks. It wasn’t until I got home and finished all my work that I finally found time to watch Obama’s speech on CNN.com. There, sitting alone in my room at midnight, I watched him address the nation for the first time as the President of the United States. That’s when it hit me: Holy crap. This is really happening.
Obama’s speech really left a mark on me. That’s the sign of a good speaker. His words grabbed you and hooked you in, and it didn’t matter if you were there, listening to him speak in person, or you were like me, alone and hunched over a half broken laptop. Even amidst an economy about to shit the bed and a seemingly never-ending war, President Obama’s speech gave me something to look forward to. Who knows, a year from now, the man could fall flat on his face and drag this country even deeper into turmoil, but as of right now, me and millions of Americans like myself are finally feeling optimistic. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t felt that way in eight years.
As if a terrible economy and a war isn’t enough, Obama finds another issue on his presidential plate: The current energy crisis affecting our planet. It’s seems like everyone is becoming aware of the problem; you can’t turn on the TV for a minute without some company or business promoting their new environmentally friendly project. Hell, even Apple’s got a new green friendly Macbook, made entirely out of cardboard and broken iPods, and powered purely by those stupid Photobooth photos. While America stands divided on the significance of renewable energy, everyone seems to be wondering the same thing: How is our new commander in chief going to handle this? No doubt all this and more ran through Obama’s head during his inauguration, yet in the midst of the mountain of tasks that looms over him, President Obama calmly said “My fellow citizens, I stand here today humbled…”
I know we here at Generation are mainly known for our satire and our occasional potty humor, but if you ever get a chance to read beyond the personals and the “I’m Right, You’re Wrong,” you’ll realize that we actually cover some pretty interesting stories. This issue, our very own Andrew Blake takes off his “Jerky, Slavedrivin’ Editor-in-Chief” hat and trades it for his “Journalist/Creepy Dude with a Camera” one and joins our sassy Senior Editor Lauren Ministero as they report on their experience in the nation’s capital during the inauguration. Also, Erica Mazzara writes about all the ways people are trying to keep Earth from turning into one massive dumpster. Do yourself a favor and check out one of the articles.
Obama’s inauguration speech painted a long and stressful journey, but one that will (hopefully) lead to positive changes. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, you know you can’t help but feel a little curious about what the future holds. Oh, and by the way, CNN reports that even Fidel Castro watched the inauguration and said that President Obama seems like “a sincere person with good ideas.” If an 82-year-old ex-communist dictator who once asked the Soviet Union to nuke us can support our president, then maybe he’s got a fighting chance after all.
