Day One

I guess this shouldn't come as any kind of surprise, but everyone I've passed has smiled at me today. Co-workers, strangers, clerks and even my own kids. Well, not the crossing guards in my neighborhood - they scowl at everyone. I don't know what they can be so angry about all the time, but standing out in the cold for hours at a time to safeguard people who despise you can't exactly be chicken soup for the civil servant soul.

We've only been living in Obamatopia for a few hours, but there are already changes afoot. The White House site has a blog - and a feed. Since the majority of people I meet don't know what my "go tell it to your blog" t-shirt means, I think this is huge step. Between that and the weekly video podcasts, we're finally getting a president who, even if he doesn't understand the technology itself, understands its importance for communicating directly with his constituents. Hell, they added a twitter account! But we ought to expect that from a president younger than one of the kids from Beverly Hills 90210. 

I don't know what we can expect from the next four years, but everything seems exciting today. A Nigerian co-worker's sister flew in from London to see the inauguration. My office sent out a reminder to come watch the inauguration on the television in the lobby. And much as I don't like all the historical comparisons that have been floating around, I realized what the boomers have been saying about Kennedy all these years: I don't worry that Obama will disappoint us, but that we'll disappoint him.

Let's try not to.