Since 1789 we have inaugurated a President every four years (Notable exceptions being John Tyler (1841), Andrew Johnson (1865), Chester A. Arthur (1881), Theodore Roosevelt (1901), Calvin Coolidge (1923), Harry S. Truman (1945), Lyndon B. Johnson (1963) and Gerald R. Ford (1974).) and endowed them with the authority to lead the Executive Branch of the Federal Government, to act on our behalf with the leaders of foreign nations, to perform the duties of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and with other powers specifically granted to the President by our Constitution.

We are now inaugurating Barack H. Obama as our 44th President. This in and of itself is not unusual as we've inaugurated Presidents 43 times before. What sets this inauguration apart. What makes it historic in its own right is that, for the first time in American history, our new President is black.

Many see his swearing in as the culmination of the dreams of people like Phyllis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jackie Robinson, Dr. Martin Luther King and many others.

America, first as colonies of Britain, Spain and France and then as a confederation of independant sovereign states, has slavery as part of its social and economic history. The first African slaves arrived in the British colonies of the eastern coast of America in the early 17th Century. In the years following their arrival, though there would be parts of the growing nation where slavery was either abolished or never began, and exceptional people who escaped it or fought it, it would take another 260+ years, and the forcible reintegration of 11 sovereign states into the confederation, to end slavery in the United States of America.

In the 144 years since, between 1865 and today, blacks in America have gone from being slaves to being whatever their talents and industriousness makes of them. Many are now trades people, business owners, educators, professionals, atheletes, performers, managers, scientists, military officers, executives and even ... politicians.

Which brings us to the doubly historic Presidential inauguration of 2009. First, there can be only one 44th President and Barack H. Obama will forever hold that title. But the second and far more singularly historic part is that, at the same moment, he becomes the first President of African descent.

Is his Presidency the culmination of peoples dreams for black success in America? History will decide that. And when all of the pomp and circumstance of Inauguration Day is done. When the speakers have spoken and the bands have played. When the real work begins the next day what I think that we really need to hope for the Presidency of Barack H. Obama is that he will work not with an eye towards his place in history for he has already made that.

There are those who say they wish for his failure. This is short sighted and does no good for the country. I personally expect that he will work ceaselessly and effectively with both eyes always towards what should be his one goal. That which is best for America.

Congratulations to President Barack H. Obama. Please do us prowd.