Inauguration Bound!

I'm on the second leg of my Boston to DC pilgrimage to the presidential inauguration, riding a bus from New York. Being trapped on a motor coach for more than 4 hours provides an excellent opportunity for blogging.

I think it was only this morning when the excitement hit me a bit. Up until then, I think most of my physical and emotional energy was consumed by getting through the work week and then trying to prepare for the trip; the hassle of logistics pushed reflection to the side. I did this in the weeks before I went to Paris for a summer, too; up until I was on the plane, headed to France, the realization that I was going to live in another country for 5 weeks, and how big a deal that was, never quite sunk in.

When the driver announced the bus destination, and stated that we were going to see Obama, a big cheer went up among the passengers. I've never been to an event like this, where you have millions of people from all over making this journey to celebrate something that they think is so important. It reminds me of what started to convince me to vote for Obama back at the beginning of this year: the passion he inspires in people, passion that translates into action and a common sense of purpose with so many other people.

If the Obama presidency becomes one of the greats in American history, that will be why: because he mobilized people from all over to participate in making the country better, to take initiative rather than sit back and watch things happen to them. I hope his supporters don't forget that now the election is over; already, it's easy to shift into our usual routine of the cult of personality and the importance of a single individual leader. Obama does not have the answer to the problems of the economy or any other part of our national predicament, and no plan he comes up with is going to suddenly make everything work. Slogans like "we are the change we need" can't just be campaign rhetoric; we have to understand they they are the truth, and the power to change the course of our nation rests with us.

Encouraging a national service day among his supporters is a nice start; but once in office, will Obama be able to think beyond the vast machinery of government bureaucracy to suggest, encourage and enable grassroots solutions to the present and future challenges? Will he fall into the pattern of protecting and shoring up broken systems, unable to envision or generate support to establish new ones? Will he actually be able to build bridges between so many fractured interests and provide a convincing vision for the future that will rally a wide spectrum of citizens? Will he really be open and honest about how he governs, why he makes choices, what the government does well and what it does poorly, what needs fixing, what needs elimination, what needs supporting, what needs restoring? Will there be viable, real-impact ways for a common citizen to have a role in these decisions that affect her life?

I'm afraid because the inertia of our systems and the sense of their overwhelming complexity and lack of clarity can be crippling. Taking half-measures or no measures to address both the symptoms of our nation's troubles and the root causes could be a successful short term
strategy to keep one's self popular and in office. Polling, image management, and political maneuvering could quash the inspiration and resolve to believe and bring about a new way of living together, of providing for our common needs, of governing ourselves. The more Obama learns to be successful in the existing frameworks, the less he may have the initiative to change them. And if we, too, can't muster up the will for change, all the potential of this great moment would be lost.

I'm not down or disheartened; I am truly excited about what is happening and where I will be this week. I just want to keep reminding myself that the work didn't end on a Tuesday in November; the real work begins on a Wednesday in January.