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Sometime in late 1996 or early 1997, just after Bill Clinton had been re-elected, Chris Rock hosted Saturday Night Live. I don't remember the entirety of his opening monologue, but for whatever reason, I vividly recall Rock questioning just how much life would change if your guy was or wasn't elected as president. Something like, "My guy lost? Damn! Trash won't get picked up this Tuesday!" Obviously, it was in the name of comedy, and obviously, on such a superficial level, it's absolutely true -- a president can only impact our daily lives so much.
But then there's Tuesday. (Or my Wednesday.) And even though I'm 9,761 miles and a 214-day walk (and kayak) away from the festivities, I'm still quite excited for the inauguration of our 44th president. And that's not wholly because I support most of his policies or admire his willingness and desire to work across party lines or think that he's a genuinely good guy. Those all go into the equation, yes. But what I'm really excited about is much more simple than that; he just seems to get it. He knows what he knows, he knows what he doesn't know and he's not afraid to admit it. He's just a normal guy who has worked hard and paid his dues throughout his career, loves playing basketball with his friends, and is going to make someone pry his Blackberry from his Greg Focker-like kung-fu grip.
On that last point of the Blackberry, the appeal for me isn't his apparent addiction, although that absolutely makes him out to be all the more normal and relatable. No -- what's so appealing to me is why he wants to keep it:
It's just one tool among a number of tools that I'm trying to use, to break out of the bubble, to make sure that people can still reach me. If I'm doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an email and say, 'What are you doing?' I want to be able to have voices, other than the people who are immediately working for me, be able to reach out and send me a message about what's happening in America.
How many leaders -- whether it be of a country, a corporation or some little neighborhood group -- have the humility to say something like that?
Barack Obama has inherited one seriously messed up situation. Yes, the trash will still be picked up on Tuesday. But with him now at the helm, I'm optimistic for so much more than that, confident that he has the knowledge, tools and temperament to right the larger ship. So for the first time in my adult life -- at a time when I'm surrounded by many people skeptical of the United States -- I can finally and thankfully say that I'm proud of and have faith in my government.
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