Barack Obama is President

What can be said that has not already been said?

I do like the symbolism of Obama's swearing a "most solemn oath" the day after the Martin Luther King holiday.

It's fitting.

And the speech. It was pragmatic and as well as idealistic, yet one can sense the communitarian one nation out of many spirit underneath it all: e pluribus unum, united we stand divided we fall, and all that. The patchwork nation, in Obama's words. We've seen that sentiment throughout our history and it's what sets American apart, that it is a nation based not on race or religion or ethnic identity but on principles.

American patriotism is of a special sort, and Obama embodies it.