Can we?

Yesterday Barack Obama became the fourty-fourth President of the United States of America. In a predicted, yet nevertheless explosive victory, the new President promised change, but demanded sacrifice. After millions have followed him cheering "yes we can", the rubber meets the road and it is time to see if this administration truly mean business. It is easy to become elected in a time of crisis with promises of change, but now is the time when he will have to live up to his promises. 

Obama was right on the money when he said that this election represents the idea that the American dream is alive and well. This man's journey from his birth to the Presidency is truly representative of this dream. He has become a leader to many and will now direct the nation in what is most definitely a decisive moment in American history.

The task that lies ahead is a colossal one: repairing eight years of what many have seen as the most oppressive and misguided period in modern American history. Seven years after 9/11 it will be interesting to see if this new President will take a step back to analyze the radicalism into which this country has plunged and take on a more moderate approach. After two wars with the looming possibility of another two, an immense amount of debt, the worse economic crisis since the Great Depression, an almost complete rupture of international relations and the cannibalization of individual rights and constitutional freedoms, things must change. 

In my opinion the most egregious damage the former administration has done, which the new one will have to deal with, has been to strip individuals of their freedoms. The radical reaction to 9/11 is historically rational, considering that before September the 11th the United States had never before experienced such an attack on civil objectives on its own soil (the only comparison that comes to mind is Pearl Harbor, and that was a military objective); however, it's terms were beyond belief. Under the premise that sacrifices were necessary in order to defeat the new enemy, liberties for which the original colonies shed their blood were lost. The bases on which this country was founded were taken away, with the stroke of a pen, and people were told that it was the right thing to do, in order to protect that which was precisely being taken away from them. If this country is going to continue priding itself in the values it claims to represent, its administration must seriously see for itself whether or not those principles are truly upheld. 

Even though the following clip is from a TV show and is, thus, a dramatization, I think it clearly shows the effect that excessive authority may have in a time of crisis. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwDAbVqQqv0

The people have spoken, and they have asked for change. Their hopes now lie with the new administration. The question is, will they live up to the expectations? Yes we can, yes we can....now it's his turn to uphold his end of the bargain.