My speech was simple.

1. Why is today an important day?
2. What did we celebrate yesterday?
3. How are the two related?

They knew the answers to my first two questions.  Barack Obama was to be inaugurated as our 44th President, with emphasis placed on his heritage.  We didn't come to school on Monday so we could celebrate Martin Luther King day; they vaguely recalled that he had something to do with civil rights.  Question three was not a trick question concerning interwoven family lines in a Maury-esque paternity drama, yet several students wanted to interpret it that way.  I needed to clarify the question, and I posed it again in the form of "How are these two events, the inauguration of Barack Obama and the struggle for equality, related to each other?"

This was a higher level thinking question.  Many wanted nothing to do with the questions, suggesting that we should be preparing for our midterm instead.  I asked the question another way.  "Imagine going back in time 50 years.  How many people would be left in this classroom?"  They figured out the puzzle here and pointed out the few white kids that salted the room.  "Martin Luther King, amongst others, struggled so that you could have a spot in this classroom.  You should have had it all along, but we were a prejudiced country, and it took hard work to undo all of the wrongs made against minorities.  That fight is still going on today.  Barack Obama is our first African-American President.  Martin Luther King and everyone involved in the Civil Rights movement paved the way for Barack today, but he wouldn't be President if he didn't put in the hard work to get through high school, graduate from an ivy league college, attend Harvard Law School, and begin his career as a politician.  They both had dreams, and both dreams were realized through HARD WORK."

I continued, using Barack the student as a model, asking "Do you think Barack Obama walked into his classroom, sat down in his chair and started talking to his neighbor, completely ignoring the directions given by the teacher?  Do you think Barack Obama showed up late to class?  Do you think Barack Obama, our new President, skipped all of his homework assignments and didn't bother to study for tests?"

A few kids wanted to argue with me.

"I read his autobiography and he said that he was an average student."

My reply: "Average students don't go to Columbia University or Harvard Law School."

"Mister, you weren't there, you don't know what he was like, he could have been a clown.  He's a pretty funny guy."

My reply: "No, I wasn't there, but I know why successful people are successful - hard work.  Sure, he's witty and clever, but he probably knew when and where to crack his jokes.  He took school seriously."

You should have seen these kids after he won the election.  It was Obamamania.  I thought I could parlay the inauguration frenzy into a buzzer beater at midterm, giving them the pep talk they needed to dive headfirst into the next semester, but it mostly fell on deaf ears.  A few perked up and took my speech to heart.  Others wanted nothing to do with it, would rather quibble over the assumptions of hard work and dedication made in my speech.  I would say it was well received overall, but my 8th period class looked at me like I was some kind of Billy Mays infomercial pitchman for trying to sell them on Obama's ideas of hope and change.

I should add that before my 8th period class, one student took it upon herself to write "Happy Inniggeration!" on my white board.  She laughed and thought she was so witty, as if she were a dimwitted redneck who rubbed two brain cells together and saw that they made a shiny spark.  The young African-American girl who wrote it on my board looked to me for approval like a puppy who just crapped on my rug.  I told her to erase it immediately and let her know how disappointed I was by her comment.  I wrote her up and included the offensive term, which I'm sure will sit well with the minority led administration of my school.  Unbelievable.  I'm just happy none of her classmates possessed the attention span necessary to witness that 30 second transaction.  They're like goldfish, these high schoolers.

I voted Tuesday.  I voted for hope and change.  I know that it will take more than one man and more than one day to heal the wounds in our country.  I know that change will be slow and hard.  If someone is sick, deathly ill, it can take years to recover.  I have faith that I picked the best candidate for the health of our country.  The overwhelming Obama victory shows America as a hopeful nation ready for change.  The skeptics paint him to be eloquent but inexperienced.  His campaign managed to make three major changes on election day. Red states turned blue.  Young people and minorities voted in record numbers.  A black man was elected president.  That's real change.  Let's hope for more.

While I was away at the convention, many other teachers called in for any number of reasons, leaving the school deficient in substitutes, forcing teachers to cover classes during their planning periods.  I left easy, bulletproof lesson plans for my replacements, but I might as well have left nothing at all.  None of my plans were followed to my satisfaction and the kids spent two days basically doing nothing.  I'm glad I spent all of that time writing those plans!  Thanks, school!  You're awesome!

Tax policy: benefits the wealthy, does little to help the middle class, is projected to expand our budget deficit by more than $200 billion over Obama's plan.

Healthcare policy: sounds like another form of deregulation, which has really worked wonders in the financial sector. Tax my benefits? No thanks!

Education policy: vouchers? That's your answer? I've got kids in 11th grade, at a charter school, who read at a 7th grade level if they're lucky. They need Early Childhood intervention, not school choice. I'm sure he would love to give us some more unfunded mandates like No Child Left Behind.

Energy policy: offshore drilling? We don't have any oil, onshore or offshore, when compared to the rest of the world. Oh, and your spending freeze would mean no new money to invest in alternative energy sources, right?

The WAR: we can't leave before the job is done, seeing as how we've screwed up that patch of sand in the last 5 years, but don't talk about VICTORY. How can you win a war that has no real enemy? Faceless insurgents without national organization? When do you claim victory and how will you know that you've won? We've already destabilized the region with our aggression and continuing to stay on will certainly result in more deaths of young men and women for no real reason. We need a viable exit strategy, not a 100 year occupation.

Those issues matter most to me. I am by no means an expert in any of those areas, but I know that Obama has a better plan. As far as foreign relations and free trade go, I think Obama's pick of Joe Biden for VP will certainly provide him with excellent counsel on matters beyond our border. As for McCain's VP pick, what needs to be said? She's clearly the wrong choice to lead our country should something happen to our geriatric commander in chief.

Obama '08-'16