Weekly Column:   –  “No matter how you voted, we’re all Americans on Inauguration Day.  President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn into the highest office in our land on Tuesday, January 20th. 

For the citizens who voted for him, there will be celebrations.  For those who supported Senator John McCain, it will be a day to be gracious.  For Barack Obama, it is the first day in a monumental challenge: to prove to every American that he is going to be a leader for us all.

The challenges for our country are numerous, and they are also substantial.

Economists hold differing views on how we will get our fiscal house in order, but they generally agree that this is the toughest economic environment America has experienced in a long time.  The U.S. economy lost $7 trillion in value in 2008.  That number serves as a summary for jobs lost and at risk, businesses on the cusp of bankruptcy, and whole economic sectors which face debilitating circumstances.

The challenge, then, is not just to persevere, but also to adapt as we overcome the difficult climate.

The new president knows that, all across the country, Democrats and Republicans face tough times.  Americans with no political inclination or party affiliation are struggling to make ends meet.

I consider it my job in the new year to advocate for our rural district and others like it.  We’re facing new challenges that are unique to rural America.  Energy costs hit us especially hard.  The manufacturing and agricultural sectors of our economy are largely located here.  And health care, education, and telecommunications are all difficult to deploy in rural parts of our country.  In a manner responsive to rural Americans and responsible to all taxpayers, we must guarantee the health of our national and our local economy.

Other challenges must still be faced.  As I alluded to, our nation still suffers from the lack of a comprehensive national energy policy.  We must make the best use of our natural resources at home while we pursue sound, energy-saving technologies for our future.  Oil shale, offshore drilling, coal, and alternative fuels all deserve a place on the list of short-term solutions that can bring stability to U.S. energy prices.

Finally, we cannot waver in the responsibility to keep our homeland secure and our citizens safe.  The debate over foreign policy and homeland security will hinge on how aggressively our policies will target international terrorism at home and abroad.  We can ill afford to surrender the hard-won gains over the last eight years that have kept our country safe from another terrorist attack.  The lessons that were forgotten after the World Trade Center bombing of 1993 haunted our nation on September 11th.  The lessons of both those days need to be foremost in every American’s mind as we continue to strive for the safety of every American citizen.

And as always, other old challenges persist.  Our law enforcement community is making slow but sure progress in the fight against drugs and illegal immigration.  In Southern Missouri we have task forces of dedicated professionals from different agencies all working together to stop the production and distribution of methamphetamine.  Efforts like this one must not escape notice from the new administration, and I will be sure they do not. 

President Obama enters our highest office with a full plate, to be sure.  He also has patriotic Americans of both parties in Congress and throughout the nation to remind him of the important issues on it.”