I wish these folks were here today...

It's t-minus 90 minutes...

As Barack Obama prepares to take the oath of office today as the nation's 44th President ~ and the first African-American President in our history ~ I'm thinking about a few names out there who I wish could be present for this historic occasion.

1. My grandmothers
2. Gramps
3. Michael Haugh & David Papadupolo, my two deceased fraternity brothers -- the former who helped recruit me
   
4. Obama's grandmother
5. Obama's mother
6. Gandhi
   
7. MLK (duh)
8. Jackie Robinson
9. Rosa Parks
10. The bus driver who had Rosa Parks arrested
11. Buck O'Neal
12. All deceased Negro League ballplayers
13. Curt Flood
14. Branch Rickey
    
15. The four little girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, and their families
16. The men who gave rise to the KKK...make them see the white of Obama's eyes as he gives the oath!
17. Miles Davis
18. Johnny Cash & June Carter
19. Lincoln
    
20. FDR
    
21. JFK
22. JFK's son
    
23. RFK
    
24. Lyndon Johnson
25. Louis Armstrong
    
26. Sun Ra
27. Brian Piccolo
    
28. Walter Payton
29. John Wilkes Boothe, with a front row seat after the metal detectors, a solid patdown, and a thorough cavity search
    

Of course, it's easy to imagine these folks looking from above and being present in spirit...especially those who this moment is linked to, such as Lincoln and MLK.