The Reverend Joseph Lowery

The day after the inauguration of Obama, I am still captivated by the benediction by Rev. Joseph Lowery. With all the emphasis on the new and the young I must say I was very moved by his words, the words of the wise elder. Here is a man who has clearly experienced suffering. Even though I was alive at the time, and remember sermons in my church supporting the civil rights movement, I can not imagine the courage and bravery of the civil rights activists of the mid-60's. To refresh my memory I just read the Wikipedia entry on the Selma to Montgomery marches for voting rights, and their perseverance against outrageous cruelty just sent chills through my body. In the face of deaths, of murders and bloody beatings, they marched and marched in non-violent protest.

Yesterday, reflecting on the grand picture, his prayer was alive with playful joy and sober guidance. Rick Warren's invocation, by comparison, seemed dry to me. But that is just me. I am sure it touched many also, and inspired some to join in the effort to reshape America.

One wonders on the importance of personal suffering to reveal the true joy and lessons of life. I also see that many people had a completely different take on the benediction, were offended, even suggesting that he was attacking whites. Wow, I just do not see that. In his very last paragraph he was grinning and having some fun with race relations, and to me, the day was all about having fun. (Note, as a biochemist and geneticist, I do not even believe in human "races", just human variation.)

The Rev. Joseph Lowery's Benediction:

From Obama's Inauguration Day

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.

Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.

We pray now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.

He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.

Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.

And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.

With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

Inauguration Day

From Obama's Inauguration Day

We are broken up. We can't be there. We are out in the cold. We can't be in the USA on this great day in our country's history as Obama is sworn in. We have our computers, but it is not the same. Indeed, there have already been some web events where we were blocked because we are not in the country, like the HBO web broadcast of the concert at the Lincoln monument. Also the Disney channel...I really wanted to see the Jonas Brothers play Love Bug for the young Obamas and the military families.

So I know our oldest son will have a blast at the Inauguration, see the event up close, and later go to the Youth Ball tonight. I wonder if he will be working during the event. Maybe we will see him on TV. Word has it that he even BOUGHT a tux for the ball tonight. We can't wait to hear his stories. We will be glued to our our computer screens, and CNN international.
We could not be more hopeful for the future of our country and and the future of our children.

The New Guard House

The Neue Wache, the new guard house, was dedicated in 1993 as the "Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Tyranny." The gothic styled building use to be a guard house, but now instead of guarding a Prussian prince it guards the memory of the dead.

From Berlin

Within the otherwise empty room is Käthe Kollwitz's sculpture Mother with her Dead Son.

From Berlin

The sculpture is directly under an opening in the ceiling. So the sculpture is both protected and exposed to the world, like children with their parents.

From Berlin

So we were reminded that we can never be completely protected from human cruelty, or natural pestilences. But we can remember the victims and work towards minimizing the damage.

Throughout the great city of Berlin are memorials, and with them a sincere desire for a more peaceful world. The memorials insist that we to look at the real consequences of war and violence. There are also celebrations of the non-violent protests that finally led to the reunification of Germany, and the new confidence and abundance that flows through the city. One wonders what the world would look like today if America had listened to our German friends, and not our British friends during the discussions leading to the Iraq war.

Timothy Egan

I really like Timothy Egan- man with a Seattle perspective that I share. Here are his thoughts.

This American Moment — The Surprises

Guess who won Joe the Plumber’s vote. Not Joe the symbol and unlicensed tax-dodger coming soon to a garage sale near you, but real people who make about $42,000 a year, the median income for plumbers and pipefitters.

Barack Obama carried hard-working Americans of that income stripe by 10 points, according to exit polls.

And the only voters who were told directly that their taxes would go up under a new Democratic president? Obama took the rich as well, winning by six points that small sliver of the electorate that makes more than $200,000 year. Soak ’em.

As for the Bradley effect, there was none. Perhaps a Reverse Bradley – in which more people actually voted for the black guy than they told pollsters.

Witness Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, three prime states where working-class whites were supposed to be saving their true racial feelings for the privacy of the voting booth. Obama won Michigan by 16 points, Pennsylvania by 11 and Ohio by four. In each case, the vote was well above the election eve average of all polls. Hillary Clinton voters came home. Ditto Reagan Democrats. Did I mention that Obama won the Catholic vote — and Scranton, the iconic blue-collar town?

Overall, the pollsters mostly got it right — and a tip of the hat to Scott Rasmussen for nailing the popular vote, 52 percent to 46, and to my friend Johnny Verhovek, age 15, for predicting the exact number of electoral votes in my local betting pool.

In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice on the question of what to do when your dreams come true: don’t tell anyone.

Conversely, what do we do when our darkest fears, our hardened conventional wisdom and our historic homilies are all found to be hooey? Shout it from the rooftops.

This was a transformative election, but not because there was some big lurch to the left or an unequivocal rejection of the right. The culture is confused, as always. Gay marriage lost in liberal California, in Florida and Arizona. But abortion restrictions were voted down in conservative South Dakota. And 73 percent of voters in Colorado disagreed with a longheld Republican contention that human life begins at conception.

This was the first real 21st century election — rejecting the incompetence of the Bush years, the race-baiting of Karl Rove’s majority strategy and the poison of media-driven wedge politics. As a nation, we rejoin the world community. As a sustaining narrative, we found our story again.

Obama’s ascendancy is likely to have the ironic effect of ending affirmative action, and the old identity politics. He became only the second Democrat since Franklin Roosevelt to win more than 51 percent of the popular vote not because he’s black, but because he is smarter, with better ideas, and showed leadership under fire. This was a victory for meritocracy.

If affirmative action survives, it will be more class-based, as Obama suggested on the campaign trail.

In losing the urban vote and the suburbs as well, the Republican party is now a shrinking regional party of older white males, represented in the media by talk-radio kooks and far-right women dressed in high couture to sell low-culture friction.

Obama won the New South of Virginia, Florida and perhaps North Carolina. He flipped three states in the New West, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. He won the fastest-growing ethnic group, Latinos, by better than a 2-1 margin. As for the young, nobody since modern polling of age groups began has racked up a better percentage of the 18- to 29-year-old vote. Obama won 66 percent of the kids.

And sure, the youth vote is only 18 percent of the total electorate, but that’s still a bigger slice than those over 65 years of age (one of the few McCain cohorts).

See the trend: new, emerging, growing, tomorrow, young. Dormant for the darkest years of the Bush presidency, the oldest strain of American DNA is evident again.

For Republicans, the trouble is deep and spreading. They nearly lost Montana, Missouri and the most populous county in Idaho, a state where a Democrat was just elected to Congress. When this kind of thing happens in Idaho, it’s time to start reading up on the Whig party for history lessons.

Even Texas tightened from four years ago. But do 23 percent of Texans really think Obama is a Muslim, as a recent poll found? If reality indeed has no home on the Texas plains, it’s the perfect place for Bush to retire.

One of the better lines in Obama’s election night speech was a slap to the rejectionist politics of Bush. Rove always insisted a president only needed 50 percent plus one to win. And Bush governed that way, permanently angering half the population.

On Tuesday night, Obama reached out to the other half. For those who did not vote for him, he said, “I will be your president, too.”

What an idea — simple and obvious. But like so much American common sense, it’s been missing for too long.

Victory for the People

President-elect President Obama, November 4, 2008
From his acceptance speech.

Victory for the People

"But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; it grew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organised, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory."

So I will second what Barack said last night, and say to my children and their generation, thank-you, this election is your victory. A great victory for our country and your future.

From Obama gives his thanks

Such a silly picture, but PJ is wearing his Obama shirt.

Stephen at Grant Park on election night.

From Obama gives his thanks

Election Day

Ok, the time has come. Here are some results.

Just too cool

As of this moment, if you go to the New York Times election photo project, our picture is on the first page. Yes, go click on it. You will have to scroll down a bit, we are like picture 7.

If we fall off that page, you can always do a search on International submissions.

I was the first to submit a picture from abroad, so we might always be first in the list, but I am not sure.

Well, my readers, you saw the picture first. Now it is in the NYT. How about that.

Also, I am sorry about all the typos I make. I see I made another one in my submission to the NYT. Oh, well, in these fast moving times, in these times of hope and change, there are bound to be a few typos. These are times when little mistakes are made, but the broader outline is straight and true. Go America, embrace your better nature. Reach out a helping hand. To help the poor and middle class are not acts to slur and ridicule, but are at the very heart of our great country.

I am as corny as Kansas in August, so I leave you with this:

Another poem, this one from Emma Lazarus

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

From Statue of Liberty

Our votes get mailed

Outside the Postbank we proudly hold our ballots.

From Voting absentee from Dresden, Germany.

I was going to take a picture inside, at the counter, but OH NO. The German was flying from behind the counter. NO PICTURES! ARE YOU SOME KIND OF TERRORIST PLANNING TO BLOW US UP!!!??? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING???? At least that is how I translated what they were saying. No one spoke English. I waved my ballot. In English I said I wanted to take a picture of us sending our ballot to vote for Obama. "Obama" I repeated a few times, with a big grin. Oh, how they suddenly laughed. They quickly realized we were nutty Americans. Everyone in the office got excited. The woman behind us in line, who had a baby in a sling and was pushing a stroller, said she would come outside with us and take the picture. Another man was very animated. He was talking very fast, in German, and smiling. I have no idea what he was trying to say, but it was friendly, at least.

There were three clerks, behind three counters. Upon our return all three were busy talking to each other and looking at us. Very funny. It cost us 8 Euros to airmail it back to the US. For me, it was the cheapest part of the election by far.

So now, with my endorsement, and the beautiful endorsement in the NYT (a must read), it is now up to you, dear reader. Vote and keep hope alive.

Barack gets my vote

The bubble has been filled in.

From Barack Gets My Vote

I have been waiting for a long time to do that. Wow, it felt great.
You know, listening to Colin Powell over the weekend, I could not have said it better:

Because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard for being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.

With two weeks to go I wish I was there helping to get out the vote. But I do what I can from Germany$

After all that has been said and done, this election still is about hope. A hope that America can still live up to the vision of the Founders. A hope for a change in direction, a change to put us back on a path that will inspire the world with the greatness of the American spirit. A hope that the burdens of disease and financial hardships that are weighing down the middle class can be lifted with visionary leadership, and a presidency that inspires the best people to come to Washington to solve our problems, not aggravate them.

GO OBAMA, and GO STEPHEN and all of your generation who are working so hard for change. The finish line is in sight. Now is the time for the final kick.

McCain's Acceptance Speech

It is almost midnight, and we leave tomorrow at 2:30 PM for Germany. In these last moments I can't help but reflect on things I will miss. One thing that I am sure I will miss is John McCain's acceptance speech. Though I think I know how it will go.......

Thank you. Thank you. I accept your nomination to be America's first maverick President of the United States. ( Wild Applause) Yes, America, I aim to shake things up when I get elected. My appointments will send a message to the world that America is back on track. Already you have seen the wisdom of my first appointment. How about that Sarah Palin, isn't she ready to lead on day one. (Euphoric Applause). But I will not stop there. During my long, torturous captivity in the Hanoi Hilton, I never gave up HOPE that someday I would be able to show the feeble minded Washington elite how to win wars, and how to run a government of the people and for the people. So I will continue to make appointments that will make Washington dizzy with my maverickness. Look, do you know that I have examined the history of the Department of Labor, and there has never been a Secretary who has actually been in labor. WOMEN, I will change that when I appoint MICHELLE Duggar as my Secretary of Labor- a women blessed with 17 children, and one on the way! And how about Diana Ross on the Supreme court. She has been a Supreme for 40 years! Baby love, if she isn't qualified, who is? How about my own Cindy for Secretary of the Treasury. She has never trusted me with managing her wealth, and she has been giving me an earful about managing yours, for good reason. (GREAT LAUGHTER). But she has done a great job in our family, and she will do a great job for your family. For Secretary of STATE, I will just keep Condi, because if she is good enough for George W. Bush, she is good enough for ME. Now men, don't think I am just pandering to women. I know there are a great many qualified men in America. For my Secretary of Defense I want someone who can tackle the big problems, and who better than Illinois's own, Brian Urlacher! And for the Department of Transportation, NASCAR's own Dale Earnhardt Jr. Now I will bet he will get you moving.
Yes America, I am a Maverick, and that is with a capital M. Elect me as your next president, and I will give you a government of Americans we can all be proud of.

Well, that is how I imagine it, anyway.
Take care. We are all packed. I think we have close to 400 pounds worth of stuff. I'll give you the exact number in my next post....from Dresden.
Goodnight.

Hebrews 10:24

I just loved Obama's acceptance speech last night. I was moved to tears, my love of the country swelled,and I thought how profound a difference his vision could make for our country. One footnote, as he said, his last line was from scripture, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful". But when I opened the Bible my brother-in-law Vic sent me, I was also moved by the next line, 10:24, " Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."
Indeed, let us consider.