Inauguration day…

Pretty historic day today. There’s a lot of hype, for obvious reasons, surrounding this election. From my perspective, though, I see the election of 44 as the best man for the job and not the election of someone simply because you don’t want the other guy to win. The only thing this election was about was electing the person people believed to be the best person to lead this country.

In town parties were held. The streets were packed with folks coming into town to watch the innauguration on, presumably, a big screen TV at Toby’s Feed Barn. I guess I could have watched the event there or at home on TV. But the reality is that I’m not really one to need to watch an event like this. Probably a reason why I’m not a real big concert goer either. Just knowing it happened is good enough for me. Or maybe it’s just the contrary side of me.

Here in West Marin, there are an awful lot of folks all ga-ga and fawning over the upcoming four years and I think that’s good that people can be that starry-eyed. In fact, I heard someone say just this morning that they were “staggering around full of joy.” However, I kinda feel bad for President Obama. He is coming into the next four years with a lot of people expecting great things from him. That’s a lot of pressure and pressure that I don’t wish on anyone, although I did vote for the man, so maybe I did wish some of that pressure on him. He will be under a microscope so powerful that even an electron microscope will look like a pair of kid’s binoculars. All I can hope for is that he doesn’t screw up. One mistake and the critics will come crashing down on him. However, I think he’s pretty smart. He can listen to what folks in the US want and has assembled a pretty good team of advisors, so I’ll trust that he will do a pretty good job as 44. After all, how bad can he do considering 43?

So, what did I do while the inauguration festivities were being held? Went for a bike ride, of course. And it was beautiful. And I knew history was being made. And I felt good about it all. And I did watch the inauguration address later and it was moving. And I’m still glad I went for a bike ride. And I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

(What’s playing: Emmylou Harris w/ Mark Knopfler Alone and Forsaken)