The Inauguration we really need

Four more years, why not make it eight?

Four more years. That’s just so exciting. He gets to steer the ship for 1,460 more days. Cool. There was a while where we wondered if he’d been able to pull it off but, bang, here we are.

At least we know the country will be in good hands for the next four years. There’s a lot of scary things out there but having the smartest guy in the room at the helm on our side, that’s comforting.

Isn’t this just the most spectacular setting for Monday’s Presidential Inauguration?

Remember the time over the chess game where they were telling him it wasn’t a bad thing to be the smartest guy in the room, that it was indeed something worth campaigning on, something that would definitely set him apart from the rest of the field. And they were right.

I guess we’ve seen over the past few years just how important intelligence is. The voters respect that, honor that, always take into consideration when they go to the polls and that’s why he won so overwhelmingly, even after the big lie. And, yeah, it was a big lie but there was so much good he did in that first term.

Like the time when they were trying to find a way to save Social Security and one side was suspicious of the other side and one side was sure the other side was just trying to screw them over like they had done previously and he stepped in, like King Solomon or something, like a SuperDad, and so wisely, fairly, judiciously said to a room of open-mouthed aides, “We can’t take any credit for this. Let’s get it done, but we can’t take credit.”

His selflessness, yeah, I think that was something we all really admired about him. And, you know, his courage, his testicular fortitude, can we use that phrase?

Then there was the time, geez, it seems like the first time we saw him when we think about it now when he walked into that room full of hypocritical, Bible-thumping, mean-spirited, black-hearted evangelists and called them on their anti-Christian, anti-Bible hypocrisy and sent them packing. It was as if the will of God suddenly showed up in their shallow consciences for once and scared the bejesus out of them, sent them scurrying to the exits.

He had a vision. Don’t you need that? Not just some transactional guy just looking for a win today – no matter the consequences or who gets hurt -- and not sweating tomorrow. Someone who looks ahead. Someone who understands HOW government works, knows our history and can take our country further. Like the time he said, he was just off-the-cuff, standing in the doorway, this stuff just pours out of him, doesn’t it?

“American needs a new doctrine for a new century based not just on our interests but our values across the world. We are for freedom of speech everywhere, freedom to worship everywhere, freedom to learn for every child. It is our duty to give more than merely our support, we must give our strength, diplomatically, materially. And freedom from the tyranny of oppression, economic slavery, religious fanaticism.” Isn’t that the America we want to be. He’s on it.

Yeah, that’s a leader for you, isn’t it? I’m so glad we have him for four more years. I wish it was eight.

That’s what we want in a President. Someone honest, fair-minded, selfless, looking out for everyone else, battling, at times, his own ego but always thinking, ultimately, for the good of all, not just one party over the other. For the good of all, not just for the good of those rich kneelers, alternating between kissing the ass and the ring, whichever one gets them more favor.

And the humor. Always the sharp quip, the eye a-twinkle like the time in the Oval when he cracked “It’s nice when we can do something for prostitutes once in a while, isn’t it?” In that job, one that fraught with difficulty and betrayal and dishonesty, you have to have a sense of humor, don’t you? Glad our man does, we’ve seen it so often.

And loyalty? Why they’d fight for him as relentlessly as he’d fight for them. You surely want that in your Commander in Chief.

And again, that eloquence, those words that flow effortlessly because there’s so much person behind them, grounding them. Remember when he had all of us gathered around him and said, “There’s a promise that I ask everyone who works here to make. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world. You know why?

I was so damn happy that I had the right answer.

“It’s the only thing that ever has.”

Yeah, Jed Bartlet’s inauguration, the one we watched in our living room last night in Season Four of Aaron Sorkin’s “The West Wing,” Episodes 14 and 15, yeah, that was worth watching. Watching and celebrating and dreaming about.

Jed Bartlet as President. Don’t we wish.