The 58th Presidential Inauguration Day
In this last waning hour of the American First Republic, I offer a few brief thoughts. They’re necessarily incomplete — because both time is short, and many of them would be repetitive or have been expressed by people far smarter, more experienced, and more prolific that I — but they’re only the beginning as we enter this new reality.
There is treble heartbreak today. First, we crown a man who is uniquely unqualified and unfit to lead our great nation and the free world. By unqualified, I don’t just mean his unprecedented lack of prior government, diplomatic, or military service; more so, he rode to power on the willful rejection of reason, truth, and expertise — which might be the most disappointing thing of all. By unfit, this isn’t about just the run-of-the-mill greed, dishonesty, or incompetence we sometimes sadly see in the White House (my college years roughly bisected George W. Bush’s tenure, after all), but a man whose very character and history or selfishness, cruelty, corruption, and fraud, with no exception I can discover, is antithetical to everything I was raised to be and believe. Sure I disagree with his policies, to the extent that I find them dangerous and deplorable, but this goes deeper, to the level of basic decency.
Second, we close the chapter on the term of President Barack Obama, the first president of color, who led with intelligence, dignity, and grace in the face of years of bad faith opposition. His progressive legacy has nonetheless propelled our country and the office to be the best it has ever been, and history will judge him favorably. I played only a modest part in turning “Yes, We Can” into “Yes, We Did,” but I am proud. Finally, we lay to rest, for now, the promise and potential of a President Hillary Clinton, the most qualified and most fit person ever to run for this office, who just so happens to be a woman — and whom, it should never be forgotten, nearly three million more Americans elected despite undue domestic and foreign influence and decades of relentless venom. She would have inherited Obama’s work, and made it her own. I, alongside countless dear friends, put all the time, energy, and indeed money we could afford behind “I’m with Her” and “Stronger Together,” so sure, much of this is personal, but it should be tragic to anyone of good conscience.
In contrast to the campaign, I’ve been largely passive during the lame-duck period, watching in horror and sadness as the transition unfolded with scandal and malfeasance yet worse than what was previously known; and in equal parts frustration and hope as friends and fellow Americans who couldn’t be bothered before the election now sublimate their sudden regret into belated activism. But now we enter the age of resistance. The irony is that today, when Donald Trump comes to power, we’ll adopt the phrase “Make America Great Again” as our own. Prove us wrong, Mr. President.
