3,000,000 to 5,000,000 Expected to Attend Obama’s Inaugural
CNN reports that Washington DC officials are expecting 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 people to gather for Barack Obama’s inauguration. To put that in perspective, 250,000 appeared for Martin Luther King’s infamous “I have a dream” speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. The economic situation is so dire that I think millions of Americans have laid their hopes and dreams squarely on Barack Obama’s shoulders. I wonder though if the expectations are so high now, will it be rather easy for himto fall off the pedestal that he enjoys today? Will Americans give him a real chance? I certainly hope so because he was right when he said on the night of his election that it will take time to dig us out of the trouble that we are in right now. I was disheartened to hear more about the dire financial circumstances in Michigan. I have friends living there and that state has been hit incredibly hard for years by the declining auto industry. If the industry fails, I hate to think of what will happen in that state.
It certainly doesn’t help that Paulson and members of Congress can’t seem to agree on how the remainder of the bailout should be divied and how the first half should have been used. Home prices pluged again as homes in foreclosures grew at an unprecedented rate. I do not envy him.
There will at least be joy and hope on January 20, 2009, which I hope contiues through smart decisions, great policy when he is in office.
