Andy Pryce

A feeling of resolve and optimism

And so they came. From farms, villages, towns and cities across the United States to their capital.  I met pilgrims from the coast of California, the plains of the mid-west and the shores of New England.  They came to Washington to say that they were there.  We were there too.  On the mall. On this great day.  Two people amongst the 2 million listening intently to the new President's words for the world.   The day was cold but hearts were warmed.

There has been a celebratory atmosphere in Washington over the past week. Yet there was a solemn dignity around Tuesday's happy crowds. As President Obama said wherever we look there is work to be done. The atmosphere on the Mall seemed to reflect the measured tone of the President's speech.  I know that the UK Government will work tirelessly and ever more closely with President Obama's Administration and Congress to ensure that we meet the challenges of our time. The challenges are great but the sense of purpose and possibility evoked today is greater still. I feel confident that increased public and private diplomacy, political will and the will of our peoples will, in time, solve our economic challenges, the threat from climate change and conflict whether in the Middle East or the hills and plains of Afghanistan.

My 14 year old nephew from Chicago asked my wife and I where he could volunteer on Martin Luther King Day (the then President-Elect had called for people to volunteer). There is a sense of an ever growing challenge, resolve and, perhaps as result, optimism amongst the American people. 

We left the cold Mall after the speech and walked back to Virginia over a eerily car free highway bridge.

Posted at 10:53 22 January 2009 by Andy Pryce  |  Comments[1]