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April 29, 2009

Signs of his success and our greatness

The Hill

On January 20, 2009, I sat on the platform chatting with retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, anxiously awaiting the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States of America. We were about 15 feet from Barack H. Obama as he was sworn in on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol while millions gathered on The Mall, crowded onto adjacent streets, in windows and on rooftops, and millions more listened and watched on radios and televisions. I will always remember that moment with great pride.

Like many of those watching and listening, I anticipated an inaugural speech that would be remembered for its poetic phrases and soaring rhetoric. Instead, we heard a speech laden with sobering assessments of the challenges facing our nation. President Obama spoke of the wars America is waging against violence and hatred, a weak economy exacerbated by greed and irresponsibility, and the urgent need to take decisive actions to restore confidence, credibility and responsibility.

President Obama’s words were delivered in a manner that was reassuring to the people of our great nation and peoples around the world. We heard from a president who sounded up to the task of setting America’s ship of state on a new and different course. In the face of these challenges, President Obama declared, “… they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met.

The accomplishment that impresses me most, and in my humble opinion could be most defining of President Obama’s administration, is his successful response to the challenge outlined in his Inaugural Address when he noted, “Less measureable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.” The personal confidence, bold vision and decisive actions demonstrated on many fronts by President’s Obama’s first 100 days have begun to restore that hope and confidence at home, and good faith and credibility abroad, which are necessary to put America back on track. For the first time in a long time, our current and next generations are raising their sights. 

Congress and the president responded to those raised sights by passing and signing into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, that restores the rights of women to challenge inequality in the workplace. We passed, and President Obama signed into law, legislation that expands the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) to 11 million American children.

The president then ushered through Congress the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the most ambitious economic recovery package in history. Coming on the heels of President Bush’s widely unpopular and questionably managed, $700 billion financial bailout program — the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) — this was no small achievement. This legislation contains programs to stabilize families and communities and lay a foundation to address the domestic crises he enumerated on inauguration day.

The president then launched comprehensive plans to strengthen oversight of the financial system, get credit flowing again, keep Wall Street accountable, and restructure the struggling American auto industry. Today, consumer confidence is at its highest level in years and the demand for manufactured goods and home sales are showing improving numbers.

On the international front, President Obama has demonstrated that he is a positive, extraordinary force. In recent years, Americans have expressed concerns about traveling abroad due to the anger and animosity directed toward our country. The receptions the president and first lady received on their recent trips to Europe, Middle East, Latin America, and our neighbors in Canada and Mexico, were remarkable by anyone’s standards. His knack for diplomacy and dialogue will be an asset in the coming years as America resumes its role as the world leader in addressing significant global challenges.

President Obama closed his Inaugural Address saying, “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.”

I think it has become clear in his first hundred days that President Obama has internalized those words, and relishes the opportunity to take on the challenges this country faces. Whether or not one agrees with his philosophy on how to address these challenges, he has clearly demonstrated that he will lead this country wisely and boldly, and is willing to make the tough decisions.

President Obama reminded us in his Inauguration Address, “In reaffirming the greatness of our nation we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned.” He has set out to demonstrate America’s greatness, regain the trust and confidence of the American people, and restore respect for America.

If President Obama continues to lead in the next one hundred days as he has in his first one hundred days, I believe he will achieve the success most Americans wish for his presidency, and the greatness all Americans wish for our nation.