Historic inauguration day boosts pride

It has truly happened. A black man has been inaugurated president of the United States of America, a country where 50 years ago his African father could not have voted, eaten in a restaurant, obtained a decent job or slept in a  motel in many cities of this country. The reality of what this nation has achieved — not just what Barack Obama has achieved (though his achievement is great) — is staggering. Throughout the ceremonies today, as I watched on television, seeing civil rights heroes like Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, the reality of this achievement sunk in.

A throng estimated at up to 2 million packed the National Mall for this ceremony. Some shed tears at the magnitude of the event. Others, including the new president himself, took pride in a nation's accomplishment.

This is a new president, a new administration, a new political era. In an inaugural speech that sometimes sounded like a campaign stump speech and sometimes like a State of the Union address, Obama called on the American people to work together to overcome the troubles that face us. He also expressed confidence in the principles and character of the American people and their ability to overcome difficulties, as they have so many times in the past. He invited other nations to sit down and work together to solve the problems that confront the globe, and he expressed confidence that tribal, ethnic and religious differences of the past would succumb to the common interests of the human race.

The 19-minute speech set the right tone for an administration that promises to emphasize compromise and common interests, not divisiveness, but it lacked the high principled pronouncements of John F. Kennedy's 1961 speech.

The great news of this inauguration, other than its historic nature, might be the active involvement of millions of people from all over the country who came to witness history in the making. It is truly extraordinary that so many people place so much pride and hope in this one man, who, being one man, will ultimately fail to meet all the expectations piled before him. But the smooth transfer of power today, the honoring of political adversaries and what I thought was the most impressive moment of the day — Obama embracing former President Bush as the latter prepared to board a helicopter and leave town — speaks well of this new president's new beginning.