Marine One - Brilliantly, beautifully written by Richard Schiff
I am not an Obama fanatic. I did not favor a surge in Afghanistan; didn't support the nature of the financials bailouts; wanted universal health coverage; wanted proper prosecution of the thieves of Wall Street, believe the war on drugs must end yesterday.
But here, now, just shy of four years later I can look back and I can have respect for this man. He said he was going to bail out Detroit and he did; he said he was going to pass the stimulus package to stave off loss of jobs and rebuild infrastructure and he did; he said he was going to surge in Afghanistan to facilitate a later winding down of that war and he did; he said he was going to end the inane war in Iraq and he did. He passed Obamacare like he said he would. He reversed the loss of job growth trend like he said he would. He extended unemployment benefits and helped folks keep their homes like he said he would. And on and on it goes.
In the more freezing cold, the unbearable bone chilling cold, I stood, unmoving, looking too at the dome. My wife beside me. Looking up. Listening. I hadn't cried today. I was among the few. I was glad to be there. Excited. Glad to witness history. I felt sad for this man who is now president. This man, whose most likely greatest achievement in his life he has probably already accomplished.
I looked up. Tears, but only from the wind that physically hurt my eyes. This dome. I remember someone saying... a tour guide? a Capitol policeman? A congressman? I remember someone saying:
"This is your building. You own it. You decide who can have an office in there and you can decide to kick 'em out."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-schiff/obama-inauguration_b_2056289.html
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Thanks for the thread, charlie and algernon. 
