An incredible day, historic in so many different ways. But I can't help but wonder what it is that we are expecting here.
We now have a President who has not only articulated the core beliefs on which this nation was founded, but has lived them as he made his run for this office, a graphic demonstration of how government should be handled. He demonstrated what a difference it will be between the departing President's administration and his own.
We can, therefore, expect that this President will be straightforward with the American people, as he showed in his address on race. He respected the voters enough to tell them what he honestly thought and felt and what his course of action would be regarding the controversy over Reverend Wright, and let the voters decide whether they wanted him to continue in his bid for office or not.
We can expect that this President will not engage in discussions of things that are planned simply to distract or anger, as he showed when he aptly sideslipped a ridiculous question on a proposed 'Mob Museum' in a recent interview with George Stephanoupolos.
We can expect that this President will not shy away from dissenting opinions, as he showed by picking a man to direct the Central Intelligence Agency who did not have the greatest experience in the field, but had a proud history of telling his superiors when he thought something was right and when he thought something was wrong, and that he would not be coerced into doing the wrong thing.
We can expect that this President will rise above the partisanship that has characterized our politics for so long, as he showed when he discussed his opponent in the Presidential race without fear of saying when he thought that he had done something right.
We can expect this President to be a strong leader who gets things done, as he has shown by contacting the leaders of the nations involved in the fighting in the Middle East at the very beginning of his first day in office and setting up America's place in getting that issue resolved.
So, we can rightly expect that he will take America where it should be, can lead it out of the perilous situation it is in and chart a new course towards the America that we want to see.
The problem is that he can't do that. He can't do that unless we do it with him and, in a great many ways, for him. He can't remove partisan bickering unless we get rid of it. He can't take America anywhere unless we go there. He can't make any laws unless we support them.
He can't do anything unless we support him in what we do, what we sacrifice, and what we show in our lives every day, because we ARE America.
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
It tolls for us all.