Yes, We Did

Paul's last day of work was today. ARSC gave him a sentimental sendoff, with cake and ice cream, kind words and testimonials, jokes and jabs. It was a great job for him, the first one that I remember where he voluntarily socialized outside of work with coworkers. He also found ways to work in the garage on projects to support his work at "work". He'll miss it.

The day started with breakfast at the Roundup Steak House with the Interior Democrats to usher in a new administration. Bev, Susan and I met there at 7:30 am and ate breakfast to music by Aretha Franklin (one of my homies) and YoYo Ma and the inauguration speech. There were cheers in all the right places but it wasn't very well attended. That darn work interferes with free time. I didn't have time to make the t-shirt, "White Chicks for Obama", but maybe it will show up in later blogs.

Then, the morning was consumed by a brisk walk at the Big Dipper, banking, library, ordering a wedding gift, paying our car insurance, returning materials and visiting high schools. Whew! Then, I went up to ARSC for Paul's party and returned to teach an eLive class. Then I fixed dinner and watched Frontline about the life and rise of Barack Obama and then the inauguration again. In amazement.

I have to remember that he is a human and that he is still in his 40s, so he's experiencing a growth spurt, but I have high expectations of him to cancel some of the discouraging setbacks of the last few years.

Here is my list of 10 top expectations, not necessarily in order:
* re-establish the rights "guaranteed" in the Bill of Rights, especially speech, trials, no cruel and unusual punishment, religion, search and seizure and press.
* eliminate the federally unfunded mandated "no child left behind" act and support programs that promote excellence in educating children to be analytic, creative and critical thinkers, multiple language speakers with arts and humanities enrichment
* begin withdrawing troops from Iraq
* give all Guantanamo Bay prisoners a fair trial and release the innocent and move the guilty to top security prisons
* examine trade imbalances and support legislation that equalizes trade to/from other countries
* mandate audits of every department's budget to find money to begin an infrastructure job project- replacing dangerous bridges, roads, parks, alternative energy plants- like wind and solar, power grids, and sewer and water plants. Award private contracts in a fair bidding process.
* introduce a health care initiative
* overhaul taxes to reward the necessary steps to slow global warming- tax breaks should be only for those expenses that do that
* reverse our negative image in the world as imperialist bullies by meeting with all foreign leaders and speaking out for human rights by making aid packages contingent on compliance
* be a role model for Americanism by being a good family man, being honest, being humble, being generous, quit smoking and admitting mistakes.

My list is longer, but I'm losing your interest.

Favorite snippets of presidents I remember: I was home from school sick when President Kennedy was shot. I was enamoured of him, not just because he was young and had a Massachusetts accent, but because I wrote to him and got a reply. I wrote because he established the Presidential fitness program in school and I wanted him to do something about the fact that the boys had all the ball fields on the playground and the girls played baseball between the portables. Title 9 came quite a bit later and still has issues in places where cheering is considered a sport. For years I kept a Life magazine with his picture on the cover.

I was in the Army when Nixon (unfortunately my Commander-in-Chief) was impeached. His vice president, Spiro Agnew coined the phrase, "intellectual eunuchs".

I was quite young when I knew that Mariani was the mayor (of Detroit), Romney was the governor (of Michigan) and Eisenhauer was the president.

Nancy Reagan, Ronald's primary advisor, was calling her astrologer for guidance.

I'll try to be patient, but Mr. Obama has a heavy weight on his shoulders.