OK, Back To POTUS Barack Obama.

A new direction

In a time of peace and prosperity, yesterday's inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of the United States would have been heralded without distraction as a momentous, historic breakthrough.

It was that, of course. President Obama noted that less than 60 years ago, his father might not have been served in a Washington restaurant. He could also have noted that at the time of his own birth, his parents' biracial marriage would have been illegal in many states.

The distance covered by the nation between Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, at the Lincoln Memorial, and Mr. Obama's inaugural address 45 years later, at the other end of the Mall, is profound. It is hard to imagine that any American, regardless of partisan loyalties, did not feel a surge of pride.

But these are times, as the President reminded the country, marked by "indicators of crisis" and "a sapping of confidence across our land."

He spared his audience the data: 11 million unemployed, trillions of dollars lost in plunging investment markets, tens of thousands of young Americans engaged in two distant and ferocious wars.

The President made clear that meeting such challenges will require embracing change.

In that vein, his criticism of the departing administration was more pointed and biting than is customary. His rejection, for example, of the "false … choice between our safety and our ideals" seemed clearly to be a repudiation of torture, secret CIA prisons and preventive detention. Similarly, he was certainly bidding an unfond farewell to the divisive rule of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove when he proclaimed "an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics."

In place of the Bush administration's worldview, Mr. Obama called upon Americans "to choose our better history," to show tolerance and kindness, to reach out to poor nations, to build a new relationship with the Muslim world.

Yes, there were declarations of lofty ambition -- of economic recovery, reformed governance, new energy sources and a transformed educational system. And, yes, there were stern warnings to those who wish to do America harm or to advance their agendas through hate and violence.

But the President emphasized that it will take a united, determined country to make good on those promises. He reminded Americans that their history is not one of uninterrupted triumphs. It is a "long rugged path toward prosperity and freedom" taken by immigrants, earned in sweatshops and in slave labor, defended in civil and foreign battles.

Mr. Obama made clear that another "rugged path" lies ahead. He is right that success will demand common purpose and courage.

It is time to get started. There is much to be done and time is short.