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A Pretty Good Day in America

Rich Galen

Wednesday January 21, 2009

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I understand that yesterday was a once-in-a-nation day. It was a day when we swore in an African-American man to be President of the United States.

I think that's great. More than great. I'm old enough to remember the Civil Rights Wars of the 1960's so I think it was magical.

But.

I am a professional Republican. And I am like a coach on the team which will lost the Super Bowl watching the presentation ceremony. I'm glad the system worked, but I'm having a hard time pretending to be overwhelmingly happy for the winner.

We have a Black President. I don't care about that. I have never had a biased bone in my body, so I think Barack Obama is fine - and he would have been fine if he had been Orange.

More to the point, he is a Democrat and I refuse to turn cartwheels celebrating the inauguration of a Democrat.

Nor, will I be a jerk about it. I thought the ceremony at the Capitol was terrific. The best part was the musical selection orchestrated by John Williams just before Mr. Obama took the oath of office.

The inaugural address by President Obama was fine. I though he tried a little too hard to be memorable, but it was fine.

Invoking the Lord's name to uplift every ethnic group but White was a whiff, but in the full sweep of the day it was in the bottom of the second with bases empty.

While all that was going on at the Capitol, I was at Andrews Air Force Base to say goodbye to (now) former President Bush.

The event was in a hangar overlooking an airplane which, if the President had been aboard, would have been designated as Air Force I. But, because former President Bush was going to be aboard to fly home to Midland, Texas it would be designated as flight 28000 which is the tail number of that airplane.

There were, maybe, a thousand people in the hangar. We watched the ceremony from the Capitol on a huge screen. The crowd in the hangar was respectfully silent during the invocation and said "amen" after the Lord's Prayer. They clapped politely when Vice President Biden was sworn in. They clapped loudly when President Obama was sworn in and they listened politely when the President delivered his address.

When the helicopter carrying George and Laura Bush landed at the nose of the 747, the crowd in the hangar erupted in cheers and applause.

George W. was leaving at the end of his second term. He knew this day was coming after the election of 2004, so it was not a surprise. He said he was "joyous" at having the opportunity to go back to "the promised land" � Texas.

There were a bunch of White House staffers at the event. Two, in particular, I want to point out.

One was Barry Jackson. Barry and I worked together in the U.S. House before he went to the White House. The other was Brian McCormack who is one of the Lad's best friends. Brian and I were in Iraq together before he went to the President's staff.

Two guys who have spent most of their adult lives in the service of America and with whom I have had the great pleasure of working in two hugely different environments.

Now, it's the Democrats' turn. In four or eight years there will be a similar ceremony - maybe in the same hangar - and there will be the same high-fives for jobs well done.

The big show was on the West Front of the Capitol.

The real show, for me, was watching people who never made the papers, who were never mentioned on the cable networks, but who did the work of the President on behalf of the American people. The people whose jobs had expired at the moment President Obama said "so help me God."

I got to watch a new President be sworn in and his predecessor be cheered out.

All in all it was a pretty good day to be an American.

And a pretty good day for America.

On the Secret Decoder Ring today: The Mullfoto of the President at Andrews and a Catchy Caption of the Day.

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