“I’m excited about our new president, and I have great hope and I think that it’s a new chapter of American life. It’s a new threshold that we have stepped over. It doesn’t mean that there is not a long way to go. It’s only a threshold, but it’s a significant one.”
(Nelson Price of Jamesville, 80, retired, former CEO of Odyssey Cable Network that is now the Hallmark channel)
“I think one of the media outlets, they are talking about the inauguration. They mentioned that right after the parade he just went straight to work. I think that’s great. It’s very good that he is so much hope — optimism. I think that’s very extraordinary, unusual. And it’s also something different. And it’s a good feeling, you know.”
(Mimi Liu, 23; not registered but tending to be more Democrat; graduate student in magazine, newspaper, and online journalism at Syracuse University and dietary worker of Iroquois Nursing Home)
“Oh, it means a great change. Number one: I think we are gonna have more openness. We’re gonna know what’s going on. It looks like a bright future, and especially to the other countries looking at us now. I think they have a lot of hope.”
(Colleem North of Syracuse, 81, independent, retired, former educator, constant voter who thinks citizens should be interested in political things)
“I believe that he is going to try to do the right thing. There’re a lot of things going. The economy is bad. He needs time. The damage wasn’t done overnight, so he can’t fix it overnight. Well, we’ll wait.”
(Daphne Ramsey of Syracuse, 43, Democrat, international relations major at Syracuse University)
“I think people are having extremely high expectations from Obama, but I don’t really expect that much from him — especially comes to the first one or two years. Everyone goes in with these really high expectations, ‘Oh, he’s going to change everything. He said change and hope.’ Things usually get a lot worse before they get a lot better. I do believe they will get better, but it’s going to have to take some time.”
(Jonathan Waters, originally from Nashville, Tenn., not affiliated with any party, graduate student, film major at Syracuse University)
For Democracywise, I’m Amy Su.
(Amy Su is a graduate student in magazine, newspaper, and online journalism.)
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