Even after a couple of days to let things sink in, "President Obama" still doesn't seem quite real (pinch me!) and my first impression of the inaugural address still holds.
The thing that stood out to me on Tuesday, and still resonates today, was the stinging rebuke of the presidency of George W. Bush.
The loyal Bushies are miffed, and I, for one, could care less:
"There were a few sharp elbows that really rankled and I felt were not as magnanimous as the occasion called for," Karen Hughes, a longtime Bush confidante, said in an interview. "He really missed an opportunity to be as big as the occasion was and, frankly, as gracious as President Bush was as he left office."
Dan Bartlett, another top adviser, used similar language. "It was a missed opportunity to bring some of the president’s loyal supporters into the fold," he said. Marc A. Thiessen, the chief White House speechwriter until this week, added: "It was an ungracious inaugural. It was pretty clear he was taking shots."
Boo-frackin'-hoo.
Bush, of course, was clueless...
"He grabbed me and said, ‘That was a hell of a speech,’ " Mr. Emanuel said.
I'm still waiting, and I'm afraid I will be for a long time, for this mess he created to sink into the perpetrator's mind. Perhaps it never will, but hope springs eternal.
For now, though, it is a treat to see a return to American ideals. And it is not just a dream that Obama will head down that road. He is taking the wheel and driving right through it. Witness his comments today:
The message we are sending around the world is that the US intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals ... We intend to win this fight, and we intend to win it on our terms.
Enough of sacrificing the things that make this country great. Enough of letting a mad man set the foreign policy of this nation.
Obama will not do it perfectly. But it is truly a new day.