Good Morning Hope, Good Morning Change, Good Morning Barack!!!

There's a light blanket of snow outside my window but I feel as happy as if it were a warm sunny day in May. January 20th has finally come! No longer must I have to see those "1-20-09" stickers in windshields, on bumpers or billboards. The day of change has arrived! Millions went to D.C. for the festivities, millions and billions more will watch from home, whether here in America or abroad. It is truly a momentous occasion for not only our country, but the planet as well.

Now Obama isn't going to solve the world's problems with a snap of his fingers. That isn't what I am suggesting by any means. What is important though, is that as the leader of the free world (that title has been tarnished by Bush I know) he can set the tone of many things to come home here at home and on the world stage.

Expanding health care coverage to those in need is a change. Providing economic stimulus to Main Street instead of Wall Street is a change. Rebuilding our nation's infrastructure is a change. Putting people to work is a change. Having the humility to listen to the American people on how to proceed with all of those initiatives is a change we have waited eight long years to finally grasp in our democracy-starved hands.

The world is also overjoyed. Last night, Al Jazeera's Washington bureau chief Abderrahim Foukara told Jon Stewart that many of his viewers are warmed up for the 44th President. The world is going to be able to see the United States not torture people, that'll be a change. Getting out, instead of barging into Iraq will be a change. Signing on to global treaties fighting the climate crisis will be a change. Working with other nations instead of forcing them to do this and that...that'll be a change.

There are so many changes that we looking forward to. Both grand in scope and courageous in purpose. For right now though, on this January 20th, 2009, it is a time to celebrate one simple yet awe-inspiring change, that Barack Obama, an African-American from Hawaii, will take the oath of office in less than four hours from now.