Doesn’t exactly have the ring of Tinkers to Evers to Chance, does it? (Sorry, you know I can’t resist the Cubs reference). But just wanted to drop a quick blog during my long layover in Houston on my way home from the inauguration. Just yesterday I saw President Obama take the Oath of Office. This morning I hustled to Washington National Airport (aka Ronald Reagan Airport) to George Bush Airport here in Houston. Most of you who know me are aware of my pet peeve on the misuse of the word “irony.” So I just wanted to make it clear I don’t consider this ironic! It’s a weird coincidence. I blame it all on Alanis Morissette.

But I digress.

As a reporter, one of my tools is to shut off my emotions when I’m on the job. Cops, firefighters, paramedics — anyone who deals in human tragedy and crisis do the same thing. We do it because it’s important you feel you can trust us to be fair when we chronicle the news. Objectivity, in my view, is impossible to achieve. You can’t completely divorce yourself from your emotions, but you can make sure you don’t slant the news. So, I have to say, I didn’t allow myself to get too emotionally involved in the goings-on in DC this week. Trust me, it wasn’t easy. When you’re surrounded by tens of thousands of joyful people in a festive mood it’s difficult not to get swept up in it.

But yesterday there were a few moments where I felt the emotion approaching like someone trying to touch me through a thin pane of glass. You do feel a tremendous love of country when you see the patriotic rituals of our Republic. But the feeling of change that the media obsessed on through the weekend did not pierce my shield … until today… when I saw whitehouse.gov.

I know how silly that’s going to sound to many. But I clicked over to the White House’s new website to check out the makeover and I was, quite literally, slackjawed. I half expected someone here at the airport would ask me if I was just informed I had won the Lotto.

I don’t care if you’re Republican, Democrat, or Whig, you have to admit that new website represents dramatic change. I mean, the White House has a freakin’ blog! It’s preposterous that it took so long to drag that totally ’90s website into the new millennium. Some folks, particularly those on the left, have been wondering if the Obama administration will represent substantial change. IMHO, it already has. Now, whether you agree with that change is an entirely different conversation…

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