January twentieth was one of those days that were of historic proportions.  Every nation probably was tuned in to watch this red-letter event, or at the very least, all peoples of the earth were aware of it.  Hell, even us Filipinos were in the know, albeit only because of Charisse Pempengco’s involvement in the matter.

Yes, I am talking about President-Elect Barrack Obama’s inauguration into office.  I didn’t really see it live myself, as it was aired here in the Philippines sometime around midnight.  But I will be sure to catch the re-run of his speech; strangely enough I’m interested in these things now.  I guess it’s one of those things that come with being “mature” or something.

I’m not really interested in the nitty-gritty’s of politics, be it local or foreign and I only get my information from reading Jessica Zafra’s blog and watching ‘The Daily Show with John Stewart’ because really, the only way you’re going to get me to be interested is through humor.  But I know that I should be interested in this particular event, as it involves the whole world. 

And in that self-centered note, the whole world includes me.  How he runs his country will affect me and my future.  He will be the one to drop the stone in the water and cause the ripples that will make my existence in this earth wobble and sway. So yeah, I’m thinking, I should at least pay attention to what his plans are for the next four years.

A total number of 240,000 tickets were given out for this prestigious event to Congressmen to give away to their constituents.  Of course, it is in people’s nature to be opportunists (and with their country in the state of recession, who could blame them for trying to earn a couple of bucks?) and some of these tickets ran for as much as $5000 a piece on the Internet. 

That said I sort of feel bad that Mr. Barrack Obama’s starting his reign in these conditions.  Ex-President George Bush made muck of things and he’s the one left to do the cleaning up.  He’s got four years to straighten out the free world.  Can he do it?  I’m sure that he’s a smart, charismatic and capable man who, under different circumstances, would’ve made the United States of America flourish. 

Unfortunately he’s facing tough times ahead and I’m thinking that at best, all he could do in four years is to bring back the level up to zero and not much further.

But who knows, right?  He has done something that’s never been seen before and apparently everybody’s united under his banner.  He just might be able to pull it off.

Good luck and congratulations, President Obama.  The fate of the Free World hangs upon your shoulders. 

So yeah, no pressure or anything.  Cheers.