Can Barack pull it off?

Finally, we can stop calling him President-Elect Barack Obama. An historic day of ceremony took care of that. George W. Bush did fly off in a helicopter, finally a former president. Yet not before he heard some scathing words from his successor.



President Obama spent much of his inaugural speech laying out how he would undo what Bush has done over the past eight years.

In many ways, it was a stinging rebuke. "Our collective failure to make hard choices", and the willingness of suspend the nation's ideals "for expedience's sake" pulled no punches, especially with the guy you're talking about sitting only a few feet away. Fact is, though, it had to be said.

He also rejected the notion of the "false choice" between ideals and safety. Again, a repudiation of the Bush Doctrine. Even these words, however, fail to capture what the world saw during Barack Obama's swearing in Tuesday. From the first camera shot as he prepared to be introduced, the new president exuded confidence without swagger, an aura that said, "I can do this".

For just a moment, my mind went back to the early 1960s, to the dawn of my consciousness about who I was. That consciousness was shaped in part by a brash young man from Louisville, Kentucky, a boxer then named Cassius Clay. Until that time, black people rarely if ever held their heads up and proclaimed their greatness. Cassius Clay was different.



Certainly he was electric, confident to the point of arrogance in the eyes of some. Many people thought Sonny Liston would clean his clock when they fought twice for the heavyweight championship. We all know how that turned out.

Still, watching President Obama stride to the podium, take the oath of office, and speak to the world, I was reminded of the confidence we saw as kids in the man who later became Muhammad Ali. For some reason, I saw a straight line there. And it made me feel proud. And old.



That aura of confidence Barack Obama showed yesterday made me realize he really believes he can change the course of this nation. The outgoing president had to sit there in silence, no doubt a little shocked at how directly his watch was bring critiqued.

But all that was yesterday. The parade, the balls, the glitter, all that is done. Time to get to work.

Can he do it? Post your comment here.