The Bell Curve:

Four years and some months ago, I was debating between watching an Angel game or the Democratic National Convention on television. The convention offered the usual pastiche of political cheerleading, and I was about to switch to baseball when I decided, as a combination of party loyalty, curiosity and laziness, to at least take a quick look at the upcoming speaker who would give the keynote address.

He seemed an odd choice for this important role. As a state senator in Illinois, he hadn’t yet left a footprint on the national scene. He was lean and wiry, exuding youth and energy that captured attention instantly. He also spoke in complete sentences with clarity of thought, a novelty in political talk, especially for the past four years. Admittedly, there was a danger of the wrapping overpowering the contents of the package, but the promise was very powerful and ensured a long and hopeful look.

That look was burnished through four years as a U.S. senator, during which he became the point man — after a blistering primary campaign with a worthy opponent — for growing millions of us desperate to recapture the stature and vision of this country to properly address the problems we face. And so Tuesday Barack Obama became the 44th president of these United States. Not the first African-American president or the only left-handed president or the best basketball player but just the 44th president, able to draw a 1.5 million of his fellow Americans on a frigid winter day to journey from the four corners of this country to share this moment with him in person. It was the world’s biggest block party.

The new president managed just the right tone. His speech didn’t achieve the lyricism of Lincoln’s second inaugural or even of Obama’s long-ago keynote speech, but rather laid out boundaries to his resolve in a kind of welcome relief from campaign rhetoric. Throughout, there was a strong undertone of letting those with opposite views know that we will talk.

“To the Muslim world,” he said, “we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”