If all goes well, in a few hours we will see the return of a democratically elected President to the United States for the first time in eight years. Hooray! That's something to celebrate regardless of your opinion of Obama.
And as for him...after the Rick Warren fiasco, I was with with those who called for an furor to be raised. And that seems to have had at least some impact.
Obama just might be teachable - besides the symbolic gesture of inviting Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop, to deliver the invocation at a concert at the Lincoln Memorial we've seen the nomination of several LGBT folks to positions in the Administration.
We're still hearing promises - though vague ones - to end the travesty of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". Just not immediately - as if it would take a long time for him to issue an executive order, in his role as Commander in Chief, stating that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation will not be tolerated in the armed forces of the United States.
Of course I'm not expecting any radical change. But let's face it, it wouldn't take much for Obama to be the best president to hold office so far during my life.
So: I'm setting my inauguration response to "hooray for the return of democratic governance, with a slight and cautious optimism as to the anticipated quality of that governance".