Sunrise In America

Here are the top two headlines from today's Roanoke Times:

Obama sets firm date to end Iraq war he inherited

Blacksburg wins case against superstore

The times, they are a'changin'! It has been a long, dark night, and the morning is still cold, but sunrise is unmistakable. Not to stretch the metaphor beyond its limits, but we do know that there will be another night. We need to build our shelter while there is still daylight. If you have the sense that the last eight years dragged on interminably, and that the past month has just flown by, that is the result of having much to do in a limited time.

It is not enough just to change policy that can be changed back later. We need to be about the business of building both a legal and a political infrastructure that will make the next night less cold and dangerous. That means (a) writing as much of our agenda into law as possible, rather than relying upon executive order, and (b) making as clear as possible to as many as possible that the past eight years were not the result of one rogue administration, but of the consistent application by that administration of a set of philosophical principles that simply do not work. And, as I have written before, that work demands that, at least for a while longer, we put less emphasis on whatever disagreements we may have among ourselves, because we cannot afford to be distracted from the objectives I've laid out.

Meanwhile, this is a time to be proud of the United States. By tradition and by law, we have set the example of a nation that can dramatically revise its priorities and goals without resort to violence.

_