Hope Revisited!

I'm feeling it again. That same hope I felt on November 4, when Barack Obama was declared the winner of the Presidential election. And on January 20, when I saw him get sworn in and pinched myself.

That hope I felt when I knew we had a smart, empathetic, real person in control. That hope that has somehow been wearing away as we've watched the Republicans somehow maintain control of the debate over how to fix the mess their party got us in to in the first place. The hope that's been wearing down during the past few weeks while President Obama's been in Washington attending to our country's business, but hasn't been speaking directly with us.

Well, three times over the last couple of days he spoke with us again. And the hope is back!

First, President Obama visited the town of Elkhart, Indiana for a town hall meeting, and we remembered why we fell in love with candidate Obama. Then last night, he held his first prime time press conference as President Obama, and the magic was back.

He answered questions intelligently and thoughtfully, and he stated the case for why we needed this "stimulus package" and how it will work. He admitted that he's human, and showed that he cares... about all of us.

If you didn't get the chance to watch the press conference last night, you can now:



Today was the icing on the cake. President Obama proved that he can be the answer we need. I think he needs to do these town hall meetings, at the very least, on a weekly basis. These are his "fireside chats." They and he are what we need right now.

Chances are you didn't get to see today's event, as it happened in the middle of the work day and, hopefully, you're lucky enough to still have a job. So, do yourself a favor and watch it now by clicking here.

For the next few days, I'll be in San Diego participating in a music conference called the Sunset Sessions. I'll be interviewing and videotaping a lot of artists who are playing, blogging, and producing a radio special from the event as well. I'll have a lot of music to share with you next week, in addition to my regular interviews and commentaries.

I'll probably blog from there, but likely won't have another podcast until Monday... but please check back often. You never know when something will warrant a post!

Click here to listen to today's Radio or Not podcast (runtime 26:54), which features Hope in a Hopeless World by it's writer Phil Roy, and another version by Widespread Panic.