There’s been a lot of conversation about the risk President Obama took during the inauguration parade on Tuesday when he and the First Lady left the security of the limousine and walked the parade route.  I, like so many others, agree that the Obama’s took an unnecessary risk by doing so.  Considering the number of threats that have been made against Obama before the election, and even more after, extreme measures to insure the safety of the First Family should be taken.

We told Obama that we were ready for change, I hope we meant what we said.  It’s been a couple of busy days for Barack and his staff.

•   Froze wages for senior staff
• Limits placed on lobbyists and on staff when it comes to gifts
• No torture allowed
• Launched a new White House web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov). 
• Obama keeps his blackberry
• A transparent government
• Close Guantanamo within 1 year
• Pull out of Iraq in 16 months
• Re-took the Oath of Office (although it wasn’t really necessary)

And, he week’s not over. 

I’ll have to admit, it’s a little strange to see YouTube video clips on the White House web site.  But, I say “welcome to the 21st century!”  The new web site even has a blog.  Who could ask for more?

I also welcome dismantling the “good ole boy” network that has plagued our government for way too long.  Some of the old cronies should be a little worried!

Now:  let’s get to work on this economic crisis.  Maybe he’ll accomplish that next week.

The boast by many of the networks, including CNN, was that they’d be streaming the inauguration live.  Well, I guess they under-estimated the number of folks who’d be watching it from their computers.  Even after stopping all live feeds but one, if you tried to get a glimpse of the new president during the inauguration and didn’t get the feed going well beforehand, you’d have gotten this little message:

CNN is reporting that nearly 19 million live streams were running from their servers during the inauguration. 

I guess we still have some work to do on making sure our technology can handle a large event, such as this one.  Is that one of the things needing to be fixed on President Obama’s list?

Throughout the presidential election, Barack Obama did his best not to use the race card.  He did his best to not to make the election about the color of his skin.  He did his best to make the election about bringing change to our government and to the United States.  As we get closer to inauguration day it appears that the media is playing the race card.  Focus is being drawn away from the many challenges we still face – the worse economic downturn since the depression, two wars, and an ever increasing budget crisis.  Barack keeps bringing those challenges up when he speaks, and the media quickly diverts that attention to the fact he’s black.  Like we didn’t notice that?

Don’t misunderstand what I’m trying to say here.  This election was historic.  But, the reason Barack was elected wasn’t because he was a black man.  If you voted for him because of his color, shame on you.  Barack wasn’t elected because we needed to pay back a segment of our population for the wrongs of our ancestors – all democracies have a history of inequality and struggle.  Barack was elected because he was the best man for the job.  Nothing more.

I’m ready for a change in our government.  I believe Barack Obama can do that.  But, the color of our president’s skin won’t be what brings change.  I voted for Barack because he has the abitlity to bring people together and because I believe he's an intelligent man with a drive to make our country a better place for our children.

I realize it’s too late for the media to change how they’re reporting this event.  Those wheels are in motion.  But, after the inauguration becomes historical record, I hope we can move past it and focus on what’s important – stability of our future.