optimism returned to America!

AP Poll: People optimistic on Obama by 3-1 margin

NEW YORK – Americans by a 3-1 margin feel more optimistic about the future of the country now that Barack Obama has been inaugurated president, a new Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll found.

The poll released Wednesday found that 53 percent of those surveyed said they felt more optimistic, while just 15 percent said Obama's ascendancy to the White House made them feel more pessimistic.

With Obama stepping into history as the nation's first black president, 67 percent of those polled said they felt proud, including 47 percent of Republicans.

Americans came together in large numbers to witness Obama's inauguration. Seventy-nine percent of those surveyed said they saw or heard at least part of his inaugural address, and of those, 51 percent deemed it "excellent."

By comparison, only 46 percent said they saw or heard part of President George W. Bush's second inaugural address.

Obama's speech — a somber call for a sharp break from Bush administration policies and a "new era of responsibility" — also generated optimism, the poll found. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed said the speech made them feel more optimistic about the U.S. image in the world, while 61 percent said they felt more optimistic about race relations.

While Obama made his opposition to the Iraq war a central theme of his presidential campaign, just 46 percent of those polled said his speech made them feel more optimistic about the conflict.

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It's almost not far to compare Obama to bush - even his own party didn't really care for him. Obama has reached out and any reasonable person can tell that he is at least going to try to fix things, while any reasonable person knew that bush was just going to do whatever the hell he wanted and f'k the repercussions.