Mr. President

Barack Obama officially became the 44th President of the United States today.

"I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God."

Indeed, so help you God Mr. Obama because this job is no small task and will take every ounce of energy, but I believe in you. In fact, the entire nation wants to believe in you. By my estimate Obama will begin office with the highest approval ratings for any incoming President. In the latest poll he was two percentage points below JFK, but he will undoubtedly have a strong post inaugural bounce that will put him ahead.

After taking the oath of office, Obama gave his inaugural address. My three favorite parts of the speech were:

"The people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."

Seeing as I want to work in developing nations, it comes as no great surprise that I liked that part.

"We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

Obama will be tested by foreign nations. He must be strong.

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship."

In words reminiscent of JFK, Obama asks for a call to service.

For the full text of the speech, click here.

While I don't expect Obama to save us from all of our problems, for it is hard to save us from ourselves, I believe he will be a great improvement from the last eight years, and maybe even the last fifty years. I will set the bar high for him, as any voter should do for their representative. To settle for less than one believes is to hardly believe in anything at all.

In conclusion, I welcome our new President and say farewell to the old President. May the door not hit you too hard on the way out George.

Have a nice day.