Goodbye Gitmo

It is a novelty for my generation to see a President that transcends the position and transforms it into what it needs to be, embodying and externalizing values that we so often have trouble associating with today’s politician: courage, honesty, and empathy. President Obama is not just a figurehead. He’s not only a decision maker. He has managed to become an admirable, authentic, bona fide role model. And he’s doing so from the top.

Lead by example. Be the change you want to see. What have become bumper sticker tag lines in past years are now taking on a fresher, more substantial meaning.

This past Thursday, January 22, just two days since his inauguration, President Obama began the promised reversal of archaic doctrine with three executive orders. The restrictions placed on the CIA and neutralization of ‘Gitmo’ within the year begins the restoration process of America’s respect for the (Third) Geneva Convention as well as Habeas Corpus. This act serves as the first bright, explicit, audible shout of confirmation to a restlessly awaiting foreign community.

World - Thank you for waiting. Now get ready for the good stuff.

Now we have an iconic leader at the helm and a new smell in the air; we can look forward to a smooth-ish ride in the coming months – as smooth as we could hope for it to be at this point. But immediate economic and policy issues are not what truly excite me when it comes to having a president this motivational. Change is not a wholly spontaneous occurrence, and I am more anxious to see what masses of excited and inspired people do over the next ten, twenty, thirty years. As long as we continue down this path of openness and candor, the days of ‘Yes we can’ will transition into nights of ‘Yes we have.'

Joe Mahon