When Barack Obama casually turned and stepped up to the microphone to deliver his long anticipated inauguration speech on January 20, the newly elected president delivered something much more than just a speech. The man had just finished that brief, awkward swearing-in ceremony with the hopelessly unprepared John Roberts – to whose fumbling, inexcusable blunder he offered the briefest of smirks, and a gargantuan moment of coolly rendered reprimanding silence. Unfazed, and graciously forgiving, he shook hands with a small circle of hovering dignitaries, then turned with an impossible calm and stepped up to the lectern.

Before even opening his mouth to speak, the loose camber of his shoulders, the unhurried gaze in his eyes, sketched out for all to see the unmistakable fact that – in case you missed it – the man is fully equipped, wholly competent, and redundantly capable for the job at hand. He is calm, articulate, poised, prepared, and even eager to take on the responsibility and honor that comes with leadership. This alone, after eight previous years of whatever THAT was, is a desperately welcome change. As an individual, Mr. Obama seems to carry with him an inner kind of light. This is not intended to evoke any kind of new-age imagery. It simply seems that people around Mr. Obama – from his campaign staff to the long list of political big-wigs who spoke at the Democratic convention and checked their giant egos at the door – are somehow impelled, perhaps even inspired to step up into the form of their own highest personal self.

An illustration of this lies perhaps in the reverse example of this notion, as embodied by the previous administration. With Bush and Cheney, they allowed and encouraged everyone around them to be the worst, most paranoid, most cynical, most selfish self. 'Yes', they encouraged us, 'everyone is out to get you.' And us. We have to build up our 'defenses', shore up our 'way of life', and attack before being attacked. Danger lurks everywhere, and the way to deal with this is not to behave in a way that makes it most likely to avoid said danger, but to annihilate the forces we determine (or fabricate) to be behind the lurking threat. The corporate, executive, judicial, legislative, and popular aspects of our culture were pulled into this mentality over the past eight years.

It seems Obama brings something very different to his position of leadership. He is unifying, not isolating. He is inclusive, not segregating. He seems to seek not compliance, obedience, and submission, but communication, collaboration, and alliance. And this will, one hopes, allow for positive changes and adjustments in our collective policy and action. The allure and appeal of such an individual in a position of such consequential leadership has already inspired huge shifts in just the general collective vibration of the U.S., and – it must be said – the broader world in general. Watch either of these two youtube video clips – two simple examples of the creative spark inspired by Mr. Obama – and try not to dance, tap your foot, or just smile at the jangly happiness of it all.

As with anything in this world that carries and shines this much light, the election of Barack Obama will also cast a long shadow into the underbelly of the world. It is important to remember that certain dark and shadow forces within our government, within our selves, within the massive corporate machine that drives policy decisions all over the globe, these forces have absolutely NO interest in changing or being pulled into the light. And they can behave in reaction to this encouragement to change in very drastic, sometimes violent ways. So it is incumbent upon all of us to stay vigilant and aware of these forces – both within our own selves, and within our neighbors and friends. It is important that we continue to collectively support, protect and encourage not only Mr. Obama himself, but the calm, cool, collected, poised, wholly capable part of our own selves as we step out into the unknown waters of the next four to eight years.

And finally, perhaps most importantly, as far as the actual words of the speech Mr. Obama eventually delivered, it is clear that as a nation, bound to one collective consciousness, we have a long, long way to go. As a human individual, Mr. Obama offers real inspiration through the power and example of his own personal development and insight. A lot of his words, however, project an obvious reflection back to us showing how much work and collective development we have yet to do. In his speech, he insisted, yet again, like his recently departed predecessor, to address for us a comment to the various 'terrorist' nations across the world. Standing up at the lectern in front of hundreds of millions of people around the world as the representative for all of 'us', he said to 'them', almost fatherly, 'Remember, you will be judged by your people based on what you CREATE, not what you destroy.' Which, with an innocent, almost benign global awareness, sounds great.

But what about us?! What about the U.S.A.? Why are we, after the brutal eight-year legacy of Bush/Cheney, saying these things to OTHER 'terrorist' nations. Why are we not offering this incisive declaration to ourselves after eight years of U.S. pre-emptive aggression, illegal spying, systematic torture, intelligence fabrication, corporate free-for-all, and well-established crimes against the global community? Who, honestly and objectively, has been acting like a terrorist nation across the world over the past eight years? Who has been busy creating, and who has been busy destroying over the past eight years? Why is the quality of our own behavior so difficult to probe, and to see?

To be sure, this was not the only comment in the speech directed at these 'other' terrorist nations. Mr. Obama also intimated that if these 'other' nations would only 'unclench their fist', we would reach out and shake their hand. Again, reflecting a kind of self-evident presumption that it is 'their' fist that has been clenched, and NOT 'ours'. But from that same honest and objective perspective, whose fist has been clenched over the past eight years?

There is a long, collectively held national myth in the U.S. that 'we' somehow stand morally above the 'other' nations of the world. That to be born American somehow imbues one's actions with a unique kind of ethical righteousness. This more or less unconscious, tribal attitude is not only revealed in the specific comments found in Mr. Obama's recent speech. One need only be educated in our school system, listen to the radio and television, read our magazines and newspapers, hear the rhetoric in bars and living rooms across the country to understand the basic universal acceptance of the fundamental premise that ours is the freest nation on earth. (As opposed to, say, Sweden?)

Elizabeth Hasselback, a commentator on the popular television show The View, blatantly exposed this national myth the day after the inauguration. Quoting the very comment from above about 'other' nations with clenched fists, Hasselback soberly told her audience that this, for her, was the highlight of the speech and 'right on point'. After all, she explained to us and these 'other' terrorist nations, 'We (the U.S. and its people) have a positive, good, well-intentioned spirit. Change your spirit, we are here.'

I suppose many people watching this show, and listening to Obama's speech would accept these self-righteous notions as self-evident. But is it such a radical exercise to question the very premise of these self-evident, collectively held myths and truths? Again, what does the objective record of the past eight years reveal about our nation's behavior and character? Is it really so difficult to ask and then admit who, in the past eight years, fabricated intelligence to drum up support for two pre-planned wars that have murdered AT LEAST 500,000 innocent people?

It is a tired truth, but until the American people (including you, and me, AND the new president Barrack Obama) can come to terms with our truer history, with the truly violent, oppressive, adolescent, imperial, paranoid, cynical parts of our nature, we will not have enough knowledge of self to make any consequential change. And if the past eight years, followed by the election of Mr. Obama, are any example to follow, change would, at the moment, be a very useful thing indeed.

Every president since Ronald Reagan – including Mr. Obama - has made it a policy to finish presidential public speeches with these words: 'God bless you, and god bless the United States of America.' As a vision for a more unified, peaceful, truly global future, allow us to have the courage to ask ourselves these simple, fundamental questions: Why should god bless us? Why should god bless the United States of America? Why shouldn't god bless everyone and everything? More importantly, why don't we in the United States behave and act in a way that will invite in the natural blessings of god through the basic laws of karma, of action and consequence, that god gifted to all of humanity?