The UNITED States

Hopefully you watched the inauguration this week. As I watched, I found myself feeling anxious, rejuvenated, and excitedly positive as the cameras panned past millions of onlookers.

The crowds were as diverse as I can remember at an inauguration. The parade was overwhelmingly supportive and positive. I loved watching President Obama and Michelle walk the streets, smiles from cheek to cheek. I loved the personability of his speech and gaffs with Justice Roberts. I loved the day!

One great thing i'm noticing with this administration and its relationship with the media, pundits, and commentators is a general feeling of positivity and hope.

Since the Regan era, there have always always been your conservative and liberal "haters." I mean real hatred emerged from the get go with these last several administrations (people absolutely had firey hatred toward the conservative values of Regan, the adultery and scandal of Clinton and "W's" failure of communication, the war, patriot act, etc); and i'm just not seeing that with President Obama. There are a handful of conservatives that are critical - but always respectful. It seems everyone wants America to succeed and isn't willing to hate President Obama, because we know the outcome of division.

And a critical eye is what I wish the media would do more of (see past posts about absolute power, etc.)

So...since CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR and the like are not exactly telling everyone, everything, today I'm going to raise some awareness.

Obama ran an AMAZING campaign that was able to reach across party lines, color barriers, social barriers, etc. He ran a campaign focused on Hope and Change.

He was not George W. Bush, and he was not Hillary Clinton. Those were his 2 primary rivals.

So, today nearly all of his cabinet has been filled, and I'm not seeing an abundance of change. This concerns me. If change was the focus of his election and that change is lost in the first week, I think a lot of his voters are going to be angry - that is, if the voters are even made aware of his selections.

Here's a list of his appointments that were also appointees in the Clinton Administration:

NAME ---- OBAMA ADMIN. ----- CLINTON ADMIN.
Eric Holder --- Attorney General ---- Justice Department
Rham Emanuel -- Chief of Staff -- Presidential Aide
Hillary Clinton --- Sec. of State ------ 1st Lady
Susan Rice ---- US Ambassador to UN --- National Security Council
Leon Panetta ---- Head of CIA ---- Chief of Staff
Larry Summers ---- Natl. Econ. Council ---- Treasury Secretary
Carol Browner ---- Energy Czar ---- Head of the EPA
Tom Vilsack --- Dept. of Agriculture ----- Campaign Natl. Co-chair
Peter Orszag ---- Office of Mgt. & Budget ---- Economic Advisor
John Podesta --- Head of Transition Team --- Chief of Staff

So what's my point...nothing other than making us all aware. You'll most likely never hear this from the mainstream media - because its not "change." But now you know.

I hope we can keep up the optimism we all experienced on Tuesday, but I hope its an honest optimism, and not one fabricated by the media.

-Ross