Inauguration, at last

2009年一月二十日，是奧巴馬就任的大日子。在首都華盛頓，聚集了二百萬見證歷史的群眾。

布殊總統掌權旳八年間，美國政壇嚴重分化，人民普遍不信任政府。今天，國家景氣低迷，雖未至百廢待興，也是陰霾密佈。

但奧巴馬的上任，為國家暫時營造了一點點樂觀的氣氛，美國人都對他寄予厚望，期待着真正的改革。這是個難得的機遇，但願新政府能帶領美國人走出眼前的危機。

可惜工作繁忙，未能收看整個典禮，只在網上看了宣誓儀式。如此歷史性的時刻，居然也能出錯，John Roberts 可算是成了「千古罪人」＂I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States＂和＂I will execute the office of president of the United States faithfully＂兩句，副詞放在不同位置，意思有沒有不同？要請教文法專家了。

奧巴馬的膚色，選舉策略，和政治理念，為美國的政治生態，帶來了前所未有的衝擊。這一切一切，在大選前後已討論了很多很多，現在是看他施政能力的時候了。

電視上，看見 Danzel Washington 在舞會中介紹新任總統和第一夫人出場，二人在 Beyonce 一曲＂At Last＂下翩翩起舞，接着是 Stevie Wonder，Mariah Carey，Mary J Blige 等群星合唱。看着這位魅力和巨星不相伯仲的總統，心中忽然閃過一個念頭：the next four (hopefully eight) years will be lots of fun!


At Last - Etta James

At last, my love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh, yeah, at last
The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clovers
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh, yeah when you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine
At last