Change and Hope

I will be honest, I am excited for the possibility of change in Washington D.C. Despite being a conservative, I hope that President Obama is able to continue giving Americans the hope that they have already found in him. I hope he succeeds and brings America out of the recession, out of war, and restores the respect that we have lost across seas. The hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets in D.C. for the inauguration is just a small testament to how much hope people are placing in Obama. Listening to his speech made me wish that he will succeed in recharging America. He embodies change; after all, he is the first black president. What a huge change for America. I look forward to the change.

Whenever Dan is over from England, I always love to pick his brain on political issues, as he understands them much better than I do. Through our several conversations I am convinced of a couple things that suggest that the election of Barak Obama is a positive step for America, even for the conservatives.

First of all, when any one party is in control of the government for too long, they forget who they represent and follow their own agendas. The Republicans have lost my trust over these last eight years. The party that proclaims to support my ideals, constantly betrayed that trust. Republicans failed to keep "small government" and they did not keep the budget in check. They have had too much power for too long, and as a balance, we as Americans are allowing the Democratic party a shot at showing us if they can do any better; this is a natural occurrence in America, which is to our benefit. Even if I do not agree with their party platform, I hope that they can bring some balance into decisions. I hope that they will have the drive to fix the problems in America and gain the trust of their constituency. I hope America experiences change. I hope the Republican party also changes, in order to better answer the problems that America will face.

Second of all, as I talked with Dan, he has shown me how the hope Obama has instilled in America also permeates the world. If America does well, so does the world. I hope that Obama restores the respect from abroad that America once experienced. As America is in a in a world that is much smaller than it used to be, we need to have good relations with our neighbors. Obama's election automatically gave America some respect from abroad (see Dan's blog). I hope it carries on.

For myself, even if I do not agree with everything that Obama wishes to accomplish, I hope he changes America for the better. Even if I fight against some of his proposals and ideas, he offers America something we have not had in a while, and that is hope. I have a professor who always says, "You'll always get what you've always got, if you always do what you've always done." What we have done for eight years has not done it for America. Why not change how we do things, and change what we get! He has promised an era of openness and transparency and he is already delivering. May it continue.

We need change. I do not look to Obama as a "savior of America" as has been touted. I do not think that he was our only solution. But he proposes a solution and I hope it works. I hope he doesn't change America so much that we go in a circle and never improve. However, I add my hope to change. But overall, I welcome change, I welcome progress. As our President said, "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." May it come for the good of the people.