Inauguration Special Report: Latest headlines, blog posts, photos, videos, maps, and interactive features all focusing on the inauguration.
The Rev. Carlton Jackson Jr. has confidence and faith in Barack Obama.
“I have hope,” Jackson said. “I have confidence that he’s going to do his best.”
Jackson, the pastor at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Lynchburg, said the new president is coming to office at a very difficult time, with many domestic and foreign challenges.
Jackson said faith is important part in any occupation, especially the presidency.
“I’m praying for him,” Jackson said. “We just wish him the best out of the situation we’re in. All you can do is hope for the best.”
Jackson said the experience of many members of Obama’s administration will help him in making decisions about the economy and other situations.
“I don’t think there will be things turned around in the first 100 days,” he said. “But I think we can begin to see which route he’s going to be taking and finding solutions for our economy, race relations and other things that are happening around the globe.”
When Jackson thinks back to almost two years ago, when then-Senator Obama was beginning his presidential campaign, he admits that he “didn’t know who (Obama) was really.”
“He was unknown,” Jackson said. “Even in the African-American community, we had not heard much about Barack Obama.”
With Martin Luther King Jr. Day falling right before the historic inauguration, Jackson said Obama’s presidency is part of the realization of civil rights leaders’ dreams.
“(The inauguration) is what the elder generation fought for – even just the right to vote,” Jackson said. “And now to inaugurate an African-American president, I think it’s a great fulfillment of that generation.”
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