WE had an inauguration!

This has been an interesting week to work in an interesting place. I work in a police department, and this week we had holidays, new almost-presidents making speeches, crowds downtown to look at the new almost president and (perhaps) listen to what he had to say, and then to wave at him as he got back on the train to Washington, DC.

The next day, Washington, DC turned into a crowd scene worthy of Cecil B. DeMille - and some of our cops were there, including the motorcycle guys. Even with electric suits, I imagine they were plenty cold....

I have been through a number of inaugurations in my life, and I don't recall one so well attended, so well secured, or so flashy. Lots of people, secure in their jobs now for a time had a lot of things to say. Included in those things were glittering generalities, promises that will not be kept, expectations that will never be met, and lots of feel-good stuff, positive-sounding, but somehow giving me at least the feeling that the folks there were determined to look out for me and mine regardless of my wishes, and convinced that they already knew what was best for me and mine regardless what we might happen to think about what they think they know.

I have been distressed about all the time given to a black man who is our next president. I saw a man who was properly elected and frankly, to me, he looks more Arabic than black, and anyhow I had truly hoped that we were beyond the point that simple appearance qualified or disqualified one for higher office.

Now, I am not wholly convinced he was the right choice - but he's there now, and it is part of my job to help him all I can, in whatever way I can to excel - because if he does things well, my life goes well. Nothing like a little enlightened self-interest here. Frankly, I was and remain impressed by Mr. Obama - he is obviously bright, speaks well, does his homework or has good people to do it for him and he listens well to them, and either is sincere or one hell of an actor - and I prefer to believe that he is real.

I don't have a clue what the future holds for the nation as a whole. I'd like to think that it will go on and that we as a people will grow to be better than what we are. In many respects, even though he wasn't my choice, I'm pleased that he was elected - his very election proves that most of us are beyond a particularly ugly point in our history (although I have to tell you, Colin Powell would have had my vote in a New York minute) and that we as a people are growing in understanding and in tolerance (or at least most of us are and that's the best I can hope for.)

So we are once again embarking on an adventure in this great nation. We do this each four years, and I would wager that nobody gets exactly what they want or expect out of the four years that follow - but it will be interesting, educational and occasionally scary and at the end of four years we'll either throw him out or put him back for another four years - and hopes and expectations will be dashed no matter which way it goes because there's no way for one man to deliver on all the promises, particularly once he starts interfacing with legislators who have pork with which to woo votes.

Meanwhile, the nation will muddle through and things will change - sometimes for the better, sometimes not. It has been written that a nation gets the government it deserves and I'd like to think that we're headed for a good patch.

I'm not fond of socialist programs - and in Europe, which apparently some think is the source of all that is good, the folks are finding that socialism costs too much and delivers too little.

I get upset at treating illegals like citizens, particularly when they become thereby entitled to breaks and programs that citizens don't get offered. Maybe I'm old and cynical, but free lunch draws parasites - and Europe has been busily proving it for decades.

I don't believe that we can do anything good about terrorists by appearing weak - and yet that is exactly the posture that many would have us take in its face. That way lies madness. Predators will take a weak victim if available, and terrorists are nothing if not predators - preying only on the helpless, shrinking from anything resembling a fight.

But I have faith that somehow we'll be all right. We live in the best place in the world to be, and it will only get better. And no, I'm not whistling in the dark - if I were, I'd be headed either for Germany or New Zealand.

My misgivings notwithstanding, I think I'll watch a while - I could always get a nice surprise; it wouldn't be the first time, and surely won't be the last. It's what keeps life interesting.

The one thing that is certain is that things will change. Have a nice day, y'all.