I fought the crowds and made it to the Mall; just east of the Washington Monument. The steps of the Capital Building were barely visible in the distance and yet I was packed in like a Tetris piece among the people of the world.

I made a point of talking to as many people as possible; luckily most spoke at least some English. My only other language is poor French and wasn't required today. Here is a list of the World that I spoke with today jammed together shoulder to shoulder to celebrate the inauguration of a US President: Dutch, German, Israeli, Chilean, Kenyan, Ethiopian, Mexican. I also spoke with: Ohioans, New Yorkers, Floridians, Texans, D.C.'ers, Hawaiians, Virginians, North Carolinians, and Illini. I also met two Republicans celebrating the inauguration; more on that later. I spoke with young people that have only the memory of Bush as President and older people with memories stretching back to Kennedy.

 Two million people gathered together to witness the fruit of the real American Dream; equality for all. They also gathered to watch the end of eight years of a perverse and sick leadership that betrayed the ideals that the world expects from America.

There was not a single incident of violence or discord among two million people standing packed together. There were constant acts of courtesy and concern for the common good of all assembled. Making paths through the crowd for the disabled; ensuring the children could see the proceedings, shifting to allow people to pass through the throng, people picking up lost gloves or scarves and with the help of others getting them back to the owners, help to the elderly scaling the cement barricades or walls or crossing the small single chain barriers to walkways. Young and old were reaching out to each other with respect. There were no attitudes other than we are all in this together.

I interviewed most of the people I met and they were glad to share their stories of the trail that led them to the Mall today.

I asked just three questions: why are you here today; what are your two biggest issues that you hope Obama can solve; where are you in your life today.

I was surprised at the variety of subtle twists on why people said that they were here today. Of course, most stated that it was an historic moment in US history but there were subtle shades of what that historic moment met. The swearing in of a black man as the President of the US and thus the end of the Bush era and the return to governing by the Constitution was the consensus.

Some of the political TV pundits said that two million people booing when former President Bush was seated and when former Vice-President Cheney arrived was in poor taste. The people on the mall felt that recognition of Bush and Cheney was a major part of the inauguration of President Obama and totally appropriate for two men that have done so much harm to our Country. So to the political talking heads and on behalf of my two million new friends, I say, how rude of you to judge the sentiments of the two million people standing before you.

The welcome that Bush received was his due.

Of course, the primary reason we gathered today was the repudiation of 200 years of racism. The hope that the future would encompass the diverse society that the US is becoming as well as the US responsibility to end a world policy that subtly considered race in its actions. The Chilean, Kenyan, Ethiopian and Mexican attendees all mentioned the hope that the US would revise its foreign policy to deal with the problems of the "darker skinned" world instead of its focus on oil. All of the foreign attendees were here to acknowledge the spirit of the US citizens to break so dramatically with the last eight years and especially to inaugurate a black man as the most powerful person in the world. The foreign attendees wanted the US to close GITMO and return to a rule of law (stop torture and rendition) and get out of Iraq. They wanted the US to work on the global economy beyond the developed world and help build fair economies in third world countries. They also wanted the US to once again work to solve the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Most of the foreign attendees except the Israelis argued for better US economic intervention in the Palestinian areas.

The answers to the two most important issues that you hope Obama can solve differed greatly between the US citizens and our foreign guests. Primarily domestically, the two most important issues were the economy and healthcare. Many felt that the economic stimulus package was going to be too small to significantly change and improve the US economy. Most felt that healthcare was also essential to turning our economy around. This was a surprise to me that healthcare was so closely aligned with economic recovery. I followed up the connections between stimulus and healthcare with, "Would you be willing to pay more in taxes to support universal healthcare?" The answer was amazingly 100% yes.

With economic stimulus being the consensus answer for the first Obama goal; the secondary goal yielded a few surprises; exiting Iraq and the threat of terrorism seemed to be the leading contenders but a few curves came my way. One younger black man in his late twenties said we need to reform our prisons and sentencing systems. I immediately jumped to the incredible statistics regarding blacks in the jail system but his point of view was completely different.

His point was that child molesters could receive a five to ten year sentence while drug offenses could be much longer terms. He felt that our system should be to lock away those that are real dangers to society while providing real rehabilitative services to drug offenders. He believed that with real rehabilitative services drug offenders could easily become productive and law abiding citizens of our country. I followed up by asking his position on legalizing drugs. He was adamantly against it.

The next second choice seemed to be one of the leading campaign issues; education. Again, I was surprised by the twist on the standard education platform. The first was that testing of students to standards was needed but that classroom money needed to be spent to provide special help to nonperforming students. This extra money may be needed to be spent outside of the classroom and used in the students' homes to provide the necessary environment for learning. If the home funding failed with certain students, the extended day school should be available. These types of schools take the student from early morning through early evening allowing free time but also providing a disciplined and consistent environment for the student. Long school holidays are discouraged in this system. Obviously, I was surrounded by teaching professionals when these ideas were presented.

The third question of where are you in your life today allowed for some very broad answers. Again, I was surprised that primarily there were only two basic answers. The young were either in school full time or working and attending school part time. Their primary fear was obtaining student loans under the current credit crisis and the Bush administration's failure to open up school grants and loans. Those in graduate school were in a panic that no money would be available to continue their program in the fall semester.

The older generations' answer was strictly economic. They were watching their companies go under and wondering how long before they were going to be laid off or struggling to pay bills as their take home pay had not increased over the last many years and even recent low inflation had finally caught up with their available earnings. Many had seen their 401k's almost completely disappear and wondered how much longer they could continue to work full time as their age and health caught up to them. For those without 401k's; they were in fear of changes to Social Security as that was their only retirement option.

Some of the older generation was considering returning to school but felt stuck by the completely failing economy to determine what school subject they should focus on.

Let's not forget the actual swearing in. Immediately after, people turned to one another and said, "President Obama?" It was almost impossible to believe that our moment had finally come. The comment continued as the crowd dispersed for hours. It's really, really, really finally happened. Bush is gone.

President Obama is here.