I am so proud of America. I am proud of the American people. We have an idealist, a new thinker, and a believer of change in the Oval office. I stayed up until 2am last night so that I could watch the speech in real time instead of over YouTube. In any case, I was watching it on the laptop. No Chinese television stations were covering the inauguration and our Satellite connection has been broken for some weeks now. In fact, I am up this morning to notice that on the only English channel available on Chinese television their news show does not start their broadcast with the Inauguration. Pardon me for seeming America-centric but this is important! He's not just the leader of the American nation but of the "free world." When leaders of nations are newly elected or assume their position, there is reason to stop and notice, but the President of our nation makes much more of an impact on the rest of the world. It's strange that they don't even have a news story about it. Ok, few, finally, it's the third story they are covering on the news now but only in how it affects China-US ties, not on the man himself. Wow, it's a new perspective for me. Not even a picture of Obama or the Capitol. Ok, now they are showing shots of Obama, but from several months ago when he was on the campaign trail. Weird.

Anyways, I enjoyed his speech. It was very sobering at the beginning but he did bring a sense of hope at the end and called on Americans to remember what principles our country was founded on. I won't try and disect the speech as I'm not a communications specialist. Although I wish I would have majored in that in college. But he did call on change and cooperation between all parties in need of it. I think Americans are ready to fulfill their duty and face the challenges that lay ahead. I believe in the potential of America. That same faith lifted us up as a nation many times before and even though the rules are different today, we will move forward.