Today is a new day for our country, and the majority of us will be watching it as we’ve watched so many of the recent historic events that have shaped our nation: From our couches, TV remote in hand.

I live near Washington, DC and people ask me if I’m going down to the Mall or to the parade route to catch a glimpse of President Obama. And I tell them, no, I’m a DC-area native, and over the course of time, I’ll probably get to see plenty of him, just like his predecessors. I’ve been caught in enough rolling road closings as the Presidential Motorcade goes through and seen Marine One and the other PresiChoppers overhead more times than I can count. [Note: I live along the flight path between DC and Camp David, and believed that I could tell which of the three choppers had President GW Bush in it. It was the one with the window down and the arm sticking out, doing the ‘airplane wing’ up and down with his hand as they sped along up I-270.]

This is different, they say - this is historic. But aren’t they all historic? After all, there have only been 44 Presidents in the entire history of our Country. Perhaps a better word is unprecedented?

At this point I prefer to treat Obama as I would any other President who’s intentionally walking into the Worst Job Evar. I say, leave the guy alone - he’s got a million things to do, a million things to think about today. He’s a new commute to learn (and, like most guys, to devise the quickest, most efficient route – a second saved is a second earned, and every erg he saves is one that does not add to Global Warming), and when he gets to his desk, aren’t there a million forms waiting there for him to sign? Doesn’t he have to sign for his access badge, his Gov’t issued computer, fill out the requests for his user ID and password from the Info Security folks and get his email account squared away? He has to fill out the HR forms for his selections for Health Care benefits and Life Insurance (Has he even decided which options he’s taking yet? Never mind, I bet Michelle’s already got that figured out.), how much he’s putting into his 401k, whether he’s going to purchase extra vacation (George W Bush *always* purchased the maximum), and if he should go with the High Option Dental plan and pre-tax Health Savings account in case his oldest daughter is going to get braces this year. [Something tells me that they’re not going to make him fill the little cup on his first day - he *is* the President, after all]

He’ll need to find out where the Men’s bathrooms and the coffee maker/break room is, and where the network printers, copier, fax machine, and shredder are, too.

Leave President Obama to his work, I say. He’s got a lot to do, a Mitigation and Cleanup of Epic Proportions - he’s going to turn the lights all the way up at the White House, assess the mess left over from the Previous Occupant and his Party, roll up his sleeves and start working on what Needs to Happen Next.

So, some would say, the long National Nightmare is over.

But probably no more so than for George W. Bush, private citizen. I wonder if history will look at him as a guy who brought a Party back to his Parents’ House after they left, and it may have gotten away from him *just* a little bit. I mean, just look at the state of the Constitution they left here - pages stuck together (from I-don’t-know-what-and-I-don’t-want-to-know), cigarette burns, whole sections crossed out, little yellow Post-it notes with arrows saying “Sez you!” and “Ha,” little cartoons in the margins, rings on the pages from YooHoo and Tequila, and someone spilled Jack Daniels all over it. The place is a mess.

But that’ll all get cleaned up soon, I hope.

And Hope is what it’s all about now, isn’t it?

bc

PS Thanks to The Editor for some quick but very effective help.