By now, probably everyone knows that Rush Limbaugh expressed his hope that Obama’s administration fails. I have a hard time criticizing him for feeling that way: after all, eight years ago, I was an angry Al Gore supporter who felt that George W. Bush was the “Commander-in-Thief” and who hoped that he would leave office as the worst president in history, having completely failed in his term.

Admittedly, I thought Bush would only have four years in office, and if September 11th hadn’t happened, that very well may have been the case. But it was eight years with Bush in office, and the country has been wrecked, but who should I hold in more contempt? George W. Bush for failing, or myself for hoping he would fail? Living with the consequences of those failures over the years, and as we continue to live with them, I’m ashamed of a lot of the conduct of the administration over the last eight years, but none more so than my own in wishing Bush would fail.

I know it’s stupid to think that my heart’s desire could actually influence the events of the last two terms, but in the same way that I can watch a sports event and clench my firsts and murmur “make the shot make the shot make the shot” and feel like I contributed when the athlete does, so do I feel that I am at least partially responsible for the failures of the Bush administration.

Of course, eight years ago, I was a 22-year old idiot with a lot of maturing let to do. I don’t say that as an excuse, I say that as an explanation. And I hope that as the years progress, and as presidents who I don’t care for, and who I didn’t vote for, are inaugurated, I hope I can find the wisdom to wish them, if not success in all of their political objectives, then at least that they don’t fail, because I’ve learned — we’ve learned — the hard way that a president’s failures are more than a few nasty lines in a history book, they have a very real impact on the lives of people across the world.

One of those pundits on CNN yesterday was talking about how involved a certain segment of the community — namely, young African-Americans — were going to feel about this Obama presidency, and how he saw it as a very real possibility that they would hurry home to turn on the news and take a real interest in politics. Personally, I think that’s a stretch for a large percentage of kids, teens, and young adults, regardless of race, but I think if there’s any administration that has a chance of not only engendering but continuing such a level of interest, it’s this one.

From The Miami Herald:

Later, Obama announced during remarks at a swearing-in ceremony for White House staff and Cabinet officials that he’d freeze the pay of White House employees who make more than $100,000 a year. He told his senior staff that given the economic climate, “it’s what’s required of you at this moment.”

He signed two executive orders and three memoranda to implement the pay freeze, ethics and public records changes.

The executive order on ethics prohibits executive branch employees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. It prohibits anyone who works for the administration to leave and lobby the executive branch “for as long as I am president,” Obama said. It also precludes lobbyists hired by his administration from dealing with agencies on matters they lobbied about for two years.

A second order revokes an executive order signed by former President George W. Bush in 2001 that limited release of former presidents’ records, and replaces it with new language aimed at more transparency. Obama’s order could expand public access to the records of Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as other former leaders, in the years to come, said Steven Aftergood, the director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

So far, it’s a good move. In fact, after all the secrecy and the cloak-and-dagger stuff of the last eight years, I think this is absolutely the best first day anyone could have hoped for: this, indeed, is change I can believe in.

But, of course, we’re not even two full days into the new administration. There’s always talk, and today there’s been some action, but there is always the possibility that these changes could slip away. Obama talks the talk about being accountable, but it isn’t enough to take him at his word — we, the voters, the citizens of this country, those of us who voted for him, those of us who didn’t, it’s our job to make sure he walks the walk.

So I hope that pundit’s vision of an involved America is true. And I hope it thrives throughout the Obama Administration and continues to his successor and beyond. A citizen’s responsibility extends well beyond walking into a voting booth every other year.