When Cas wrote to me in New Zealand the morning following Obama's inauguration to tell me she had bought us both a copy of yesterday’s New York Times I felt duty bound to buy her a copy of our local Dunedin paper. The article quoted Prof Patman, a specialist in international relations at University of Otago politics department, as saying that Obama’s speech had ”offered a hopeful blend of the continuity of American values and the need for change to meet the challenges of a changing world.”
On the morning of the inauguration I crawled out of bed at 4am to watch the event live on TV. I knew our friend Allen was somewhere there in that vast crowd and I too wanted to be there ~ in spirit if not in person ~ when history was made and when the man I told Cas back in 2004 would one day be president was sworn in. I could never have guessed how fast his star would rise! But I have known the depth of despair my American friends have felt throughout these last two disastrous Bush terms and so I should not have been surprised.