In my last blog, I expressed a number of concerns regarding the soon to be signed stimulus bill. It tried to do too much, i.e.; it was muddled with too many parts not directly related to stimulus. And, it didn't do enough, i.e.; Obama's failure to frame it within an overarching vision. A clear, decisive vision that said to our nation, hey, I have a long range plan here. We're not simply going deeper into debt.I haven't heard those signals, not to my satisfaction, but I know, I know. You cannot make all of the people happy all of the time, and there's no way all of us were going to be in agreement on every part of this baby. I even found myself siding with the Republicans on a couple of points, but let's not be confused. I am unshakably in support of President Obama. He has all my heartfelt hopes. Here's a quote from FDR in confronting the Great Depression.

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all else, try something.

So, to turn a phrase, what a difference an administration makes. At least Obama is doing something. And it is a mark of not only his considerable skills but of his significant political capital, that he got something so monumental passed in so little time.

More so, barely three weeks into his presidency and I have already been provided with ample opportunities to be proud of the man. One was when he stepped up to the plate over the Daschle issue. "I screwed up." How refreshing was that? And his shrewd decision to do an interview with Al-Arabiya, addressing a need for olive branches that was part of my personal shot at an inaugural addresses a few blogs back. To take a trip in the way back machine, at the time of 9/11, we had maybe five thousand Muslims who were pissed off enough at us to fly a plane into one of our buildings. Bush tragically turned two billion Muslims against us. Now, in one deft stroke, Obama has gotten us back to facing a relative small handful of religious zealots.

Another moment, which made my heart swell, came Tuesday afternoon in Florida, and here I will prove myself a sentimentalist, but if anyone saw Henrietta Hughes and was not moved to get a little something in their eye, you never had childhood. Or a mother who loved you. You were probably raised by crocodiles.

Visions of my own hard-pressed mother came to mind, God rest her soul. To hear Henrietta's quivering voice, "...I'm so thankful for ya. I'm praying for ya everyday," all the other meek and struggling souls who now find themselves staring down the gun sights of personal ruin came to mind. And watching Obama moved by that woman's heartfelt plea, enough so that he was compelled to go over and give her a hug, well, we were all witness to the beginnings of a profound and long awaited healing process in this country.

Holy Jesus, someone cares. And just maybe we're all in this together.

Of course, in reading an article the next day in that Ft. Myer's online rag, news-press.com, and the subsequent comments made by some of its bloggers, you'd think the offer of a home to Henrietta by the wife of State Representative Nick Thompson was just another handout to those who didn't need or deserve one. The despicable comments made about Henrietta "looking as if she eats well enough" were a reminder that, no matter how uplifted I might feel by the change of tone in this land, there are some hardened and embittered souls who will never view this revived spirit of compassion in our country as anything but another sham.

In response, I hearken back to my first anthropology primer in college, struck at that time by evidence then being gleaned from bone remains found in prehistoric caves. Bones that showed signs of severe trauma, trauma that would have completely debilitated an individual and probably led to death, had not those bones been given a chance to heal, a fact suggesting that a tribe had cared for the weakest among their members, in what was surely one of the very first acts of our humanity. When Obama hugged Henrietta Hughes on Tuesday afternoon, and when he promptly instructed his staff to talk with her after the meeting, he was reaffirming a fundamental bedrock of our species. Perhaps we cannot fix every little bit of human suffering in this country today, or in this world, but by God, we can try. When we hear about it, we can at least try. And we can take every little opportunity in our own lives to reaffirm the oft ignored spirit from which we derive. We can show in the face of any hardship, we are truly a worldwide tribe that works together.

The bedrock of a healthy democracy remains dissent and a vigorous level of national debate, and I simply take issue with some of the decisions Obama has made, but I am indeed nibbling around the edges. The truth is, a great sense of peace came over me last January 20^th,, and it only grows with the passing of time. At last, I think every morning upon arising. At long last we are headed in the right direction. My heart swells up to such a point, I'm even ready to hug a Republican.