1. It’s Monday, February 13, 2017.

2. It’s the birthday of Jerry Springer, a former mayor of Cincinnati who apparently also hosts a daytime TV show.

At the Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium on Dec. 28, a video of prominent Northwestern alumni featured Springer rooting on his – and my – Wildcats. The fans of the other team, Pittsburgh, were first stunned to realize that Springer was on our side, then booed almost as lustily as they did later for ESPN’s Michael Wilbon.

However, Northwestern won that football game.

3. Which segues into my sheer joy – and that of Springer, Wilbon and the rest of us in purple and white – over last night’s men’s basketball upset of No. 7-ranked Wisconsin. In Madison.

This is a big step toward the Cats’ first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament.

4. My two classes at William Paterson University take a weekly current events quiz. It requires them to read the front page stories in The New York Times which, being 21st-century students, most of my students find online.

The big problem writing questions for this quiz is that so much of the front page of the Times has been consumed with the foibles of the new presidential administration.

Since my classes started on Jan. 19, the front page has been consumed by presidential tweets, fights over his cabinet, crazy policy decrees, concerns about conflicts of interest and questions about the integrity of the slugs drawn into this mess.

A new administration is, by definition, a change. And we knew this one was going to be quite different from the prior administration, in part because the head of the new team questioned the legitimacy of his predecessor by saying he wasn’t born in the United States.

But the time we’re spending dealing with all the turmoil of the Trump White House seems excessive.

It also seems like part of the plan. And for no reason other than he can’t stand not to be the center of attention.

Even the protests against him seem to be part of his plan. I’m sure his outsized ego is bragging that these protests are the biggest ever against a new president – none of the other 43 guys had complaining crowds this big, if at all.

And how much of this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” was devoted to people and problems caused by Trump? Was about two-thirds of the show Trump-related? He must love that.

This is the mentality of a toddler in a supposed adult. The ultimate spoiled attention-seeking spoiled brat.

The problem with that is that there are real problems, both in the United States and around the world.

How much attention are the Trump follies sucking from the crisis in northern California concerning the Oroville Dam? Nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in a place where, after years of drought, there’s suddenly too much water. 

How much attention is being paid to the battle for Mosul and signs that the Iraqis, with help from American forces, are slowly recapturing this key city from ISIS? 

There are political crises in Europe and an American infrastructure that needs rebuilding. North Korea wants to show off the only thing it seems to produce, nuclear weapons. 

And yet, we’re consumed with whether the head of the National Security Council is a double agent and how much the Trump Organization is profiting from the Trump reign.

And Americans are beaten over the head by it. Every day. Perhaps the idea is to wear people down.

So far, it’s not working. No incoming president has ever had as low an approval rate.

Then again, maybe that’s a sign it is working. It’s another superlative of which Trump can brag.

That, more than anything Jerry Springer can come up with, is a freak show.

1. It’s Friday, February 10, 2017.

2. Today is the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Speaking of which, you might be hearing the term Section 4 a lot these days.

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment allows a president’s cabinet and vice president to determine that a president is unable to discharge his duties and suspend him from office. The vice president would become acting president.

Both houses of Congress would then vote to determine if the president is able to resume his duties or if the acting president should continue in office.

3. Right now, it seems clear to about half the country that, for the last three weeks, the Oval Office has been occupied by someone clearly unable to adequately discharge his duties.

The problem is that another almost half the country believes the guy in the Oval Office is doing just fine.

That group includes the majorities in both houses of Congress, the vice president and the Cabinet of creatures the unfit president appointed.

I don’t understand why Trump and the Republicans think bullying their way to ruling, not governing, was going to make their life better or easier. This administration’s mandate to lead grows weaker and weaker.

And it’s coupled with a level of incompetence and corruption that makes what’s transpired before this seem petty.

Is it possible that Trump supporters – people who screamed about Washington establishment members enriching themselves – can’t see the impropriety of a private company profiting from the nation’s highest office?

Don’t these people feel like they’ve scratched their fingernails on a blackboard when they hear a White House spokeswoman tell people to buy the president’s daughter’s product line?

Don’t they understand that it’s not OK for a Michael Flynn, weeks before a new administration takes office, to give a wink to a foreign power when the sitting U.S. government is sanctioning it?

Are there really people who believe that, after a court unanimously upholds a temporary restraint on the immigration rules, that TWEETING IN CAPITAL LETTERS WILL CHANGE THINGS? 

I guess so.

4. So even if half the country is ready for Mike Pence – a petty jerk in his own right – to become the 46th President of the United States tomorrow, it ain’t happening.

Because there are people who still think this – what we’re going through right now – is what this nation should be. They think we’re purging the elites and getting government’s yoke off the hard-working little guy.

Which is the opposite of what’s happening.

But while that disconnect continues, Article 25, Section 4 will remain under glass, ready to be used when this all finally gets to be too much.

If the republic survives to that point.

5. Yes, there’s a clamoring for Rosie O’Donnell to play Steve Bannon on tomorrow’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Yes, O’Donnell is a talented comic actress. Her portrayal of Doris, the third basewoman in “A League of Their Own,” is forever etched in baseball lore.

And yes, her new Twitter profile picture makes her look quite remarkably like Trump’s Rasputin.

But if she does play Bannon on SNL, brace yourself for disappointment.

For one thing, the Melissa McCarthy portrayal of Sean Spicer is fresh in everyone’s mind. And that was pretty amazing – Spicer can no longer appear without people thinking about it. I suspect he now knows how Sarah Palin feels about Tina Fey.

Those are high bars for O’Donnell to vault. Along with the fact that Alex Baldwin, who might do the whole show as Trump, is hosting.

So I won’t be disappointed if she doesn’t show up, or if she does and it falls short of expectations. Or if Leslie Jones plays Bannon. Or – here’s my choice to really get under his skin – Natalie Portman, who’s however many months pregnant.

But if O’Donnell is there, I will join the rest of you in cheering her on. At the very least, it will piss off Trump and Bannon.

I can dig that.

1. It’s Thursday, February 9, 2017. It’s the birthday of Carole King and Mookie Wilson – both the pride of New York.

2. It’s snowing here. Big time.

It was 62 degrees yesterday around 2 p.m. Now, at 9:49 a.m., there’s about 6 inches of snow on the ground.

3. Yesterday’s Senate confirmation of Jeff Sessions is also confirmation that there are people itching to undo the nation’s advancements in civil rights.

It seems more and more obvious that the folks who responded to Trump’s pledge to make America great again were thinking about the time before black people asserted their desire to share in this nation’s promise. Before Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Maybe even before Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis and Duke Ellington.

These people believe that, back when America was supposed great, black people – and their fellow travelers, the Asians, Muslims and Hispanics – knew their place. And it wasn’t going into the institutions – work, school, store, arena – where white people felt comfortable.

If you don’t think Trump’s election was the last attempt of a white-dominated society to fend off the inevitable in this country – the changing demographic that will make the collected “other people” the nation’s majority – you missed the point. That’s what it was all about.

The people who supported this jackass – some of whom still have his campaign signs on their front lawns – were doing it to get back at black people for daring to seek an equitable society.

And they found their voice in a self-proclaimed multibillionaire – we still don’t know, because we haven’t seen his taxes – who saw an opportunity by pandering to them.

Now, we’re stuck with him. And he sees a way to ensure the loyalty of the scared by putting people like Jeff Sessions into power. With full control of Congress, nothing stands in the way.

4. Except our voices.

Protests get under Trump’s skin – just look at his insane Twitter feed. And they’re jolting the people who support him.

They’ve seen how effective protests against injustice have been in the past – there’s an almost 60-year history of success in making strides. Those strides include the African-American president who sent these people into a tizzy eight years ago.

Some have pointed out the irony of what’s happened in the Senate the past couple of days.

That a white female senator could be barred from speaking because she read a 30-year-old letter from the widow of a black civil rights leader.

That the letter was aimed at preventing a racist – who was nominated for attorney general – from a judgeship.

And that the racist was confirmed as AG during Black History Month.

Yes, today, as I look out the window, there’s a lot of white stuff dominating the day.

The good news is that it melts. Sometimes slowly, sometimes with the help of a 62-degree day. And the world emerges more vibrant.

Let that sustain us as we fight Sessions, Trump and the rest of the effort to turn back our nation’s progress.

1. It’s Wednesday, February 8, 2017. It’s the birthday of composers John Williams and Joe Raposo.

On a personal note, it’s the birthday of my cousin, David Detrio. The best word I can use to describe him is kind. He was my defender and pal when I was a kid, and I always thrilled to see him.

He died in 1968 at the age of 20 of Hodgkin’s lymphoma – and one thing I’ve thought over the years is that the survival rate for the disease has improved over the years.

Yes, that’s a tribute to brilliant and dedicated scientists. But I always think David’s hand is involved somehow. Because he was so thoughtful that he couldn’t imagine other people suffering the way he did.

2. Here’s this week’s weather in greater New York:

It started with the coldest temperatures of the winter so far. Which isn’t saying much, since it’s been consistently above freezing.

We had a day full of rain yesterday. Today, it’s clearing and temperatures are rising to the upper 50s.

After midnight, we’re getting up to a foot of snow.

I’ve been alive for almost 63 years. And maybe my memory’s getting a little foggy in my advancing age.

But I don’t remember weather changing as rapidly or radically as it seems to do now.

In winter, it’s generally warmer and we have these crazy changes. In summer, thunderstorms seem more violent and frequent. And every month seems to set a temperature record.

And I don’t think it’s just here in New York. There are extremes throughout the country and the rest of the world.

No, I’m not a scientist. But when idiots, including the eaf who occupies the Oval Office, calls climate change a hoax, I wonder if they live in the real world.

Because while I appreciate that scientists concur, climate change seems as obvious as day. All it takes to understand it is living through it.

3. If there’s a 22nd century United States of America – and with the Trump regime, there’s no guaranty we’ll get there – I expect Mitch McConnell to be one of the more reviled names of the early 21st century.

Last night, in a stunt aimed at enhancing his lapdog status in the White House, McConnell invoked a Senate rule to stop Elizabeth Warren from speaking against Jeff Sessions’ nomination for Attorney General.

Because Sessions is a sitting senator, any criticism of him deemed personal is a violation. Warren read from a letter written in 1986 by Coretta Scott King urging the Senate to block Sessions’ nomination to a federal judgeship, citing instances of his racism.

McConnell led his Republican sheep to a resolution that blocked Warren from taking part in the debate.

As we get further along in this Trumpocracy – and even though there’s only 11 days to go, I’m still hoping he’ll get frustrated with this and break William Henry Harrison’s record for the shortest presidency – his backers seem more determined to stop people from complaining.

Trump and the Republicans have done nothing – absolutely nothing – to reach to the people on the other side. Which, by the way, outnumber them – on Election Day, the number was 2,864,974.

By not doing so, it’s amazing that they’re surprised by the opposition. It’s unprecedented for a new administration, and disturbing. Elections are supposed to bring the country together. This one is tearing it apart.

McConnell’s power play symbolizes the Republicans’ frustration that almost all of the 65,844,610 who voted for Hillary Clinton aren’t falling into place. Despite the fact that they are not represented proportionally in the White House or Congress.

Let’s face facts. Those of us sickened by Trump, his henchmen and the pliant Republicans are going to lose more battles than we win – the Betsy DeVos fight is a prime example.

That doesn’t mean we stop. It means we keep going. We’re changing the climate, and we need to make it as clear as the weather.

1. It’s Wednesday, February 1, 2017.

Just being able to write “February” feels a little better.

2. January, as awful as it was, will be the best month of 2017, according to sportswriter Jesse Spector.

Why?

Because Trump wasn’t president in 19 days of it.

Which means February is the second best month of the year, since it only has 28 days of Trump.

3. There appears to be some confusion among Democrats about how to deal with this Supreme Court pick.

Some Democrats believe they shouldn’t go to the mat to stop Neil Gorsuch. This seat on the bench is the one that was occupied by Antonin Scalia, so from that standpoint, it’s a wash ideologically.

The thinking goes that the next seat – the one vacated by one of the four remaining liberal-moderate justices – is the one that requires a full-scale donnybrook.

Wrong.

This notion that Democrats have to hold their fire is what has Democrats in trouble.

The right doesn’t seem to believe in holding its fire. It goes after everyone every time.

That’s why we don’t have Associate Justice Merrick Garland. That’s why Cassandra Butts isn’t the late ambassador to the Bahamas, since she died while an ignoramus senator from Arkansas stalled her nomination because he hated President Obama.

Republicans don’t seem to leave seats uncontested, and they play at every level – local, state and federal.

Democrats have to do that too. Stop thinking that you’re going to spend yourself in a fight. Think, instead, of the fight – win or lose – as fuel for the next one. Keep fighting.

That is what the people who vote for Democrats expect this time. They are angry, embarrassed and sad, and right now there’s nothing short of God or whatever supernatural force atheists believe in reaching from the sky and smiting Trump and the rest of them that’s going to assuage their emotions.

Any Democrat who votes for Gorsuch gets a big X next to their name from other Democrats. That is the reality 12 days into the Dark Ages.

1. It’s Tuesday, January 31, 2017.

2. It’s the birthday of Garry Moore, who was once among the biggest stars in television, and who now is little remembered.

He hosted the game show “I’ve Got a Secret,” but he got huge ratings with a variety series. I can’t remember if he had any particular talent – he wasn’t a famous comedian or singer. But his show was the launching pad for Carol Burnett, who people do remember.

Moore died in the 1990s – he had a lot of health issues over the years.

3. Americans probably could use a rest from the Trump years. Or at least it seems like years – this is only day 12.

It really does feel, as Paul Krugman tweets out this morning, that the country would be able to endure a long Trump presidency. Even guys who had strong ideas about how to change things – FDR, Kennedy, Reagan and Obama – didn’t come into their presidencies shooting first and asking questions later.

Why are Democrats nostalgic for Reagan and even the Bushes at this point in the Trump presidency?

Because even Reagan, ideologue that he was, wanted to govern. He didn’t want to rule.

That is the difference.

4. Governing is how a country operates.

Yes, you set the tone and agenda. But you try to do that by convincing as many people as you can that this is the right thing to do. You talk to people, not at them.

I disagreed with everything Reagan did and stood for. I think he damaged the country. But he got eight years from the American people because he masterfully reached out to those who didn’t vote for him and tried to sell what he was doing.

Trump hasn’t tried. There was brief feint toward reconciliation in his victory speech early on Nov. 9. But that didn’t last the week.

There was never the traditional bury-the-hatchet meeting with his opponent, like the one between Barack Obama and John McCain. Hell, the night before the inauguration, Obama attended a dinner in McCain’s honor.

That wasn’t because they were close buddies, although I do believe there was some respect between the two at the time. It was part of how Obama wanted as much of the country at least looking at him positively before he took office.

Trump has been in go-to-hell mode going back before the campaign. He seems to have no interest in unifying the nation.

And what makes that all the more amazing is the fact that he didn’t win the popular vote. He didn’t even come that close to winning the popular vote – 2,864,974 fewer votes than his opponent.

Give George W. Bush credit – and I can’t believe I’m doing that. After what is now the second most contentious election in our lifetimes, he reached out to the other side even though he was about a half-million votes behind Al Gore.

5. And here’s the screwy thing: Trump could have made his life a lot easier.

Everybody understood that we elect a president through the Electoral College, not the popular vote. So no one would deny Trump his legitimacy – if he didn’t undermine it himself with his bluster, his tweets and his bullying.

Seriously – what if Trump had waited to implement this immigration debacle. What if he had talked to Homeland Security and Defense and State and Justice to make sure they were all on board, waited a few weeks to draft a proposal, and then gone to the American people to calmly explain why he was doing it.

Yes, there certainly would have been protests. But they wouldn’t have been so massive, the policy wouldn’t have seemed so draconian and counterintuitive, and a broad consensus of the American people might have signed on.

You wouldn’t have had the Deputy Attorney General fired after stating she didn’t believe the ban was constitutional. Because she would have been consulted ahead of time and resigned – or asked to resign – if she couldn’t go along.

The fact is that Trump doesn’t want to govern. He and the dolts who voted for him – and let’s stop being sympathetic to their concerns, because they’ve signed on for this crap – believe compromise and consideration get in the way of what they believe they should happen.

They want to rule.

The problem is there are more people on the other side. And they don’t want to be ruled.

How will this end? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe Trump, Bannon and their ilk will get what they want – they’ll wear down and wear out the opposition and get their agenda.

But every day, it seems, there’s something that shocks and outrages people. It might get tired, but it also doesn’t go away. And it cuts into the heart of this country – and these are wounds that might not heal in our lifetime.

1. It’s Saturday, January 28, 2017.

2. It is gorgeous today just north of New York City.

The sky is a perfect blue with a few unthreatening clouds. Despite a recent drought, the trees are especially green. 

Combined with Rockland Lake, which is about 50 feet in front of me, blue and green dominate my view.  There’s a little brown in the dry, soft ground. There’s the white and a touch of gray in the few clouds. And that’s it.

It’s 83 degrees this afternoon. That’s not as hot as it’s been; we had a two-week stretch when the heat index topped 100 degrees routinely. There’s a nice breeze today, maybe 6 or 7 mph, and it’s not humid at all.

But I’m sitting here in blue cargo shorts and a Mr. Met orange t-shirt and a new pair of brown deck shoes. Admittedly, the shirt doesn’t blend well with the overall background. But the Mets beat the Yankees 7-1 last night, so forgive a little joy and visual dissonance on my part.

There are people in the park. A boy about five or six riding a bike with training wheels. A young couple wheeling an infant in a stroller with a red canvas top to block out the sun. A good-sized, balding muscular guy in his 50s wearing a blue sleeveless shirt and gray shorts with his earphones planted in his ear.

I’m here to write. In the next half hour or so, I’ll pack up by black folding chair, my green cooler bag and this iPad, and head home. Tonight, I’m firing up the gas grill for these weird beef-chicken burgers I bought at Stew Leonard’s. Since it’s late Vidalia onion season, I can grill that, too. Later, I’ll scoop some vanilla ice cream into a bowl with a mess of fresh blueberries from New Jersey and some whipped cream.

The sun will set just after 8, so there’s a chance my wife and I might go back to the park.  I’ll walk around or sit in the car and reflect. My wife is still big into Pokemon Go, so she’ll be hunting augmented reality creatures and getting restocked at the park’s several Poke Stops. We’ll discuss going to the Nyack farmers’ market tomorrow and how we’ll spend a rare weekend without commitments.

3. Of course I’m not talking about January 28, 2017. I have no idea if this is a freaky mild winter’s day or something more typical – gray, cold, dark, maybe a little snow, maybe a lot.

But I wrote this on August 3 and delayed the post until now.

Why torture myself – and you – on such a winter’s day?

For one thing, to celebrate the day I’m writing this. This is as perfect as it gets, and I wanted to capture the feeling because I know it doesn’t last 365 days. I suppose today is the argument for moving to San Diego, but I’m not quite ready to leave New York with its ever-changing weather.

The other reason I wrote this in August and posted this today is to offer hope. No matter what today is like, whether it’s a miserable mid-winter day or one that’s sunny and above 40 degrees, perfect days like the one when I wrote this are on the way. 

They might take awhile. But five or six months from now, the sun will shine, it will be warm enough to dress lightly, and we’ll again be in the throes of summer. Grilling and biking and sitting by a lake enjoying the blues and greens.

So cheer up!

4. Unless…

One thing I don’t know when I post this is what happened in the election in November.

If, by some fluke, Trump won, forget everything I said. There is nothing to look forward to, and a beautiful day like the one on which I wrote this will be a sad memory of a time before madness.

Please tell me that didn’t happen.

1. It’s Tuesday, January 24, 2017. It’s the birthday of Oral Roberts and John Belushi.

2. Apparently, it really bothers Trump that he got 2,864,974 fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.

In a meeting with Congressional leaders yesterday, he repeated the flat-out lie that he would have won the popular vote if millions of illegal immigrants didn’t cast ballots.

There is no evidence of even one illegal immigrant casting a vote.

There’s lots of reasons to hate Trump – we’ll discuss one in a moment. But giving credence to your labeling him a pathological liar by pathologically lying about something easily disproved is sick. It’s a self-inflicted wound.

And it’s something to keep in mind any time he claims anything in the next 1,457 days. That number, like the 2,864,974, is also a fact. Unfortunately.

3. One of the things Trump did yesterday was sign an executive order stating the United States will no longer provide funding for international organizations that aid in legal abortions.

This was, perhaps, Trump’s way of sticking his middle finger at the 3-million-plus people who participated in Saturday’s Women’s Marches around the nation and world.

Sadly, this means these organizations – which help poor women get the health services they desperately need – must either not help those women choose whether to have an abortion or not take funds vital to their existence.

It’s an imposition of the values of the minority that won this election on the rest of the world. And, in reality, it will do nothing to stop women who feel compelled to end a pregnancy for whatever reason – health, safety or choice – from getting that abortion. 

Now, of course, there’s a better chance of that abortion being done in an unsafe manner. As one critic of yesterday’s action put it, a return to “coat hanger medicine.” And instead of being, as they say, pro-life, the proponents of this crap are actually doing more to hurt and potentially kill women.

This is the first salvo in the so-called religious right’s new drive to end legal abortion. Their hypocrisy on this stuff – see their support of a womanizing candidate for president – is plain to all.

So is the fact that no matter what happens – even if Roe v. Wade were somehow overturned – what they do won’t end abortion. Just like the 2,864,974 more people who voted for Hillary Clinton, and the fact that Trump won the Electoral College, that’s a reality that won’t change.

1. It’s Monday, January 23, 2017. It’s the birthday of Ernie Kovacs and Gary Burton.

2. We’re supposed to be getting a big-time wind-and-rain storm today.

One way you can tell the weather is off is that here, about 40 miles from the Atlantic, it smells like the beach.

Nothing major has happened around here as yet, and my understanding is the worst of this will be in New York City and on Long Island. I hope people heed the weather warnings and stay safe.

3. It appears that, even by fivethirtyeight.com’s more conservative estimate, the number of people who participated in Saturday’s Women’s Marches surpassed the 2,864,974 more voters who chose Hillary Clinton over Trump.

That’s a reason to be optimistic.

Now what’s important is whether those millions of people are willing to do what it takes to fight this occupation of our government by thieves and scoundrels.

For one thing, these people have to vote. And not just quadrennially, when the presidency is at stake.

The Republicans have attained this level of dominance the same way good teams do in baseball. In baseball, you score when you get runners on base. In politics, you win when you get people into office.

4. No office is too small. Town council. School board. Library board.

These all count. This is how Trumpistas wormed their way to dominance. They showed up on election days – whether they were in November or April – and voted when our side didn’t.

They dominate state legislatures and governors’ mansions, largely because people get to know them from town councils and school boards. By dominating at the state level, they’ve redrawn the lines so that they control the House of Representatives.

That control gave them power to go after the Senate and the White House. And now they have it all.

5. But here’s what the 2,864,974 margin should remind us: We outnumber them.

Even when they systematically exclude people who are on our side: African-Americans, Hispanics, young people, the elderly. We outnumber them by at least 2,864,974.

And we need to demonstrate that every time there’s a vote. Every time. 

If you live in a place where people who support Trump hold office, you need to vote them out. It can be a school board where members oppose paying for after-school programs or art and music curricula. It can be a town council that denies climate change by refusing to impose restrictions on plastic shopping bags. Or a state legislature that thinks fracking’s a good way to bring in a few extra bucks.

Hell, if you live in a place where people who support Trump hold office, you need to make sure there’s someone worth while to replace them.

And sometimes that person is you.

6. What I would love to see emerge from the Women’s Marches isn’t just a show of solidarity, clever signs and those knitted caps.

I would love to see many of those women run for office.

From community planning board to Congress and the governors’ mansions. All the way to the White House, again.

Our society frowns on politics. It equates it with criminal behavior.

But politics is how we determine government. And we need good, smart people doing it again.

That is what will scare the hell out of the Trumpistas.

But, once again, keep this in mind: There are 2,864,974 more of us than them. If we vote as often and as fervently as they do, and for smart people who share our values, they lose.

That’s why Trump’s crowd envy led to all those crazy statements from him and his pet spokespeople over the weekend. “Alternative facts” my ass!

There’s only one fact that matters: There’s more of us. That’s what scares them.

So congratulations to the organizers and participants of Saturday’s big success. Lots of my friends participated, and I’m proud of them.

But now the 3-plus million of you who took part and those of us who cheered them on have to do something to make that protest sting. Vote. Vote every time you have a chance. No excuses.

Organize and, while it might take up to four years, these four years will go a lot better.

It’s Friday, January 20, 2017.

That’s the first thing that’s hard to write. This day – at first thought to be impossible, then thought to be highly improbable, then thought to be certainly not happening – is now inevitable.

So I’m writing this while Barack Obama is still President of the United States.

I’ve appreciated that fact since the night of his election. I was working at CNN and never got to see the spontaneous parade on Broadway of people celebrating.

We knew his presidency wouldn’t last forever. At most, it would be eight years long, and eight years are up.

I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about Obama that makes me feel so sad at his departure from the White House.

Presidents come and go. Some you like and some you don’t. I’m a Democrat, so you can guess who my favorites are.

But Obama stands out. In a big way.

I think it’s because he, above all else, is a man of words.

You’d know this by reading “Dreams From My Father,” his memoir of his family written 20 years ago. It is compelling reading, and all the more so because it’s hard to imagine that the young man who wrote so candidly about his shortcomings and a life without a father had designs on the White House.

His speeches are brilliant. Every one of them entertaining, informative and inspiring. I should disqualify the Rutgers commencement speech I attended last year, which was still pretty damn impressive.

My favorite remains his speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. I thought he was at his absolute best that day. http://time.com/3736357/barack-obama-selma-speech-transcript/

His words sang that day. They were, in their own way, a brag. Not about himself, but about the country he led.

“Because the single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We,’ he said. “We The People. We Shall Overcome. Yes We Can. It is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone.”

“Oh, what a glorious task we are given, to continually try to improve this great nation of ours,” he said.

His language reached us because it was meant to celebrate us. The words reflected his pride in his country and implored us to share it.

Obama reminds us that it is patriotic to be compassionate. It is patriotic to be generous. That America is better when it reaches than when it just grabs, when it considers others rather than tries to rule them.

What makes me sad in these final hours of this presidency is the sense of losing what is best about America. Its hopes, its ambitions and its compassion.

The people who voted for his successor couldn’t see past the smoke screen put up by his detractors, none of whom – none – can match his ability to articulate what’s best about America. We’re going from poetry to cacophony – literally in a split second.

It sucks.

So in these last moments, let’s savor the fact that Barack Obama was President of the United States. And when you’re down in the next four years – and there will be lots of opportunities to be down in the next four years – just search YouTube for a video. There are hundreds in the 2,682 days of his presidency.

And never let it be forgotten that once, in our lifetime, America had a leader who sang our hopes and aspirations. One of which is that someone like him comes along again some day.