Barack Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on Jan. 20 is no doubt historic — breaking an invisible barrier of race as the nation’s first black president.
And don’t forget all the other notable historic landmarks, like the fact that last November’s election sparked a voter turnout level not seen since the 1960s, the viability of women campaigning for both President and Vice-President … and, of course, the absurd amount of time and money spent for all of it.
Looking back, the legacy of ashes left behind by former Pres. George W. Bush will be hard to erase.
Literally. This last Christmas, over 1 billion tons of coal ash burst the banks of a Tennessee containment pond, contaminating 300 acres of land and shutting down the water supply for thousands — thanks in part to his direction (or lack thereof).
The government actually can do some things and do them well. But not under President Bush.
For example, while he espoused rhetoric about education funding through the No Child Left Behind program, Eastside schools from the Lake Washington School District formed The Lake Washington Schools Foundation and raised their own money for school supplies and vital arts programs. Then there was, and still is, his pre-emptive, ill-advised war with Iraq, which put the health and welfare of a number of local families on the line, serving bravely in the military.
The mismanagement of government over the past eight years is simply too vast to quantify. It will take a Herculean effort to first and foremost restore the role of government as a competent, respected institution that can do more than one thing at the same time and do it with integrity.
We wish Pres. Obama well and hope that he’ll be able to emerge as an effective leader in the White House, despite the mess left by his predecessor.
Looking forward on a local note, another election is already right around the corner. King County Elections Director Sherril Huff is running as a candidate to retain her position in the Feb. 3 special election, along with David Irons, Julie Anne Kempf, Pam Roach, Bill Anderson and Chris Clifford. While Washington State’s new mail-in-ballot voting system takes a lot of time, we’d trade that any day for properly counting the votes.
We look forward to the election on Feb. 3.
