Happy Inauguration Day!

No doubt there are different feelings out there about today, some overwhelmingly positive, some overwhelmingly negative, some apathetic, some pessimistic.

I am somewhat optimistic. Here are the top 10 things I'm glad about today, recognizing that many out there will have strongly different feelings:

I'm glad...

10. ... that I will now be able to look at Dick Cheney's house on Google Earth (... and that the Vice President is no longer a member of both the Executive and the Legislative branches).

9. ... that the most influential voices with the President's ear on matters of science now actually have degrees in science.

8. ... that the new President and Vice-President don't think they can ignore laws passed by Congress by writing secret notes to themselves.

7. ... that agents of the U.S. who torture prisoners will now be in big trouble rather than given a bonus (and that we won't be putting the names of our secret agents on Google Government).

6. ... in hope that Wall Street will have to follow a few rules, rather than basically being able to do whatever they want with everyone else's money without oversight.

5. ... in hope that we might move closer to everyone having health care and that we might address how to educate our children better, rather than just setting standards and punishing those who don't find a way to meet them on their own, with hopelessly disfunctional children.

4. ... in hope that we might try a little more diplomacy with realistic expectations rather than taking an all or nothing approach that, either way, raises up more future terrorists than it kills or starves.

3. ... that we have instantaneously regained significant moral standing in the world's eyes, a new opportunity to convince the world that we are a genuine force for good in a world full of evil.

2. ... that an African-American has been elected President.

1. ... that the country gets a new start, a hit of the reset button. In short, I'm glad for a change.

We don't know yet if Obama will be a good President or if he will be able to do any better than the Bush administration did with their circumstances. But we can hope.