A Message From the 44th United States President-Elect

On Saturday January 17, 2009 Barack Obama rode a 137 mile train route from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Washington D.C.  It wasn’t just any train ride, it was the same route that Abraham Lincoln took in 1861.

The weather wasn’t the most accommodating, but it didn’t stop thousands of people in cities along the route from gathering to try to catch a glimpse of our nation’s 44^th President-elect. 

Obama stopped in Wilmington, Delaware to pick-up his Vice President-elect Joe Biden before slowly riding through Claymont, Delaware where Joe Biden’s family lived when Joe was ten years old.  The train continuing on to Baltimore, Maryland where at least 40,000 people welcomed the President-elect and Vice President-elect with clapping, whistling and shouts of support..

Love was a common message from the crowds to Obama and from Obama back to the crowds.  In Baltimore, Obama drew an analogy between “first patriots” and their challenges with the British to today’s challenges when he said “They were willing to put all they were and all they had on the line.”  His implication being that he is willing to put all he is and all he has on the line for this country, and that he hopes the country will do the same in support.

Obama doesn’t hold any illusions that things will magically get better when he takes office.  “There will be false starts; there will be setbacks,” he has said. “There will be frustrations and disappointments. I will make some mistakes. But we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency.”  A humble, and yet challenging message for the entire nation.