One year ago I was standing in the freezing cold – even by Canadian standards — in front of the Capitol with 2 million others to watch Barack Obama take the oath as proscribed by the Constitution to “faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and … to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Then he added four words which are not found in the Constitution but which have been repeated by every President since George Washington. “So help me God.” It is an oath to an ideal – to an experiment – to the Constitution.

He stood before the American people and the world at a moment of grave crisis. Two wars. An economy in crisis. He reminded us that the journey ahead in support of that ideal would be long and hard. He concluded with a challenge: “Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”

During the last 12 months that journey has indeed been long and hard. The President had promised during the campaign that the change we seek would not come easy. He was right. But that change has begun.

On his first day in the White House, the President signed the most sweeping ethics policy in history. Thousands of senior members of the new administration – including me – are prohibited from taking anything of value from a lobbyist and after leaving office, are prohibited from ever lobbying the Obama Administration for (hopefully) eight years.

Eight days after arriving at the White House, the President signed his first piece of legislation, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act ending pay discrimination against women. Two weeks later he signed the stimulus bill which – in the view of most economists – has significantly ameliorated the recession – though we still have a ways to go. And, the President also signed legislation extending health care for low income children.

During the past year, he changed the way we look at politics in the United States. He reaffirmed our commitment to those values that make us great. He reaffirmed that America is willing and able to lead the world against those evils that threaten us all. He reaffirmed that, as we fight for justice, we will seek the support, aid, and counsel of our closest allies. And, he reaffirmed that our experiment with democracy has succeeded.

DJ