Hope Rules the Day

This is probably the 1 billionth blog post today concerning the historical inauguration of Barack Obama, but the numbers coming out of the major news sites are staggering:

- CNN is reporting 136 million page views and 21 million video streams
- Fox News is reporting 5 million streams
- MSNBC is reporting 107 million page views and 14 million streams

All are record setting figures for the sites involved. CNN was no doubt assisted by its partnership with Facebook which resulted in over 1 million Facebook members updating their status through the integration with Facebook Connect.

All said and done, this was probably the most widely watched news event via broadcast TV and online websites than any event in history. This was not just a US event as it has been widely reported that the Obama Inauguration captured the attention of people around the world. Unfortunately I didn't get to watch as much of it as I wanted due to work commitments, but the little that I did watch made me very envious of the people that made the trek to Washington, DC. Listening and watching President Obama (that feels good) speak makes you want to follow him in whatever capacity you may be needed. To say he's inspiring is an understatement. He has done more to rally this country than any person since Guiliani spoke at Ground Zero the day after 9/11.

While we cannot expect that the President will be able to make good on every campaign promise, I fully expect him to work tirelessly and selflessly to leave this country in a much better state than he has inherited it. In a word, I feel very hopeful and based on the numbers I've seen, I'm not alone.