It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a Tom Tomorrow cartoon. Looking back over my archives I see that is something I used to do quite often. Right now I feel kind of how Fallenmonk put it:

Looking around the Internets you see that a lot of other bloggers are writing their farewell posts to the Bush era. I guess there is something worth saying on the changing of the guard and the final departure of the worst President in the history of the Nation but I think I will let everybody else scatter the ashes. A lot of the posts here have been about the injustice, depravity, cowardice, avarice and hate that is the Bush presidency and frankly I don’t feel like writing anymore about it. I have made my opinions and disgust clear enough I think, and there is just no sense in saying it all over again. Let’s just say it was a moral and ethical atrocity and leave it at that.

What I find myself looking forward to now is seeing how everyone from Tom Tomorrow, to Fallenmonk, and in between, handle the New Presidency. That and seeing if I can keep my own cynicism in check, to be unleashed when it’s most appropriate.

It’s taken me a full day to wrap my head around the fact that Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States. A full day and it’s still real. A world of weight has been taken of my chest. The sober tone in which he addressed the Nation election night–following McCain’s gracious concession speech–spoke volumes about the potential this country has left in it. Not that I have renounced my deep cynicism when it comes to all humanity:

Dems lower expectations
By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 11/05/08

Democratic leaders are tamping down on expectations for rapid change and trying to signal they will place a calm hand on the nation’s tiller.

“The country must be governed from the middle,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday. Repeating themes from election night, she said she plans to emphasize “civility” and “fiscal responsibility.”

Her comments emphasized that after an election consistently referred to as “historic,” Democrats face the daunting task of dealing with the plunging economy and two wars.

Yet, they face massive expectations for change and deep-seated fears of overreaching. But senior aides say they’ve learned from the mistakes of the past. Nearly every member of the current Democratic leadership in the House served through the 1992 election, when Bill Clinton was elected president. Two years later, the GOP gained control of Congress.

It’s just that I don’t have too many excuses to not be Hopey. For now. Until probably… mid-February.