On Tuesday, President Barack Obama will sign the $787 billion dollar stimulus package approved last week. Republicans are not happy, calling the package unlimited wasteful spending. However they did not offer a timely realistic alternative that would save homeowners, schools, and health care.

Pundits are pondering whether or not the package is enough or the right approach to fixing our broken and bleeding economy. The package is not going to get the country back on our financial feet right away, but it is something. Republicans may see it as a very expensive band-aid, however something needed to be done.

The approved stimulus package will help all of us. The financial government package will help the unemployed and the uninsured. Most working people will see a small tax cut that will show up as a few extra bucks in their paychecks. A large amount of money will go towards continuing and extending some unemployment benefits. And for the first time ever, the government will contribute to COBRA health insurance benefits for non-working people.

So will the plan save us from collective financial ruin? Maybe not right away, but it is a good start. Economists predict we will be in this miserable monetary situation for about two years. For now, we all need to continue watching every dollar, but keep buying what we need wisely to keep the economy moving.

Tomorrow is the actual birth date of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. This year’s national holiday honoring the civil rights leader happens to precede, by 24 hours, the inauguration of the first African-American President of the United States. Since Monday I have found the level of excitement within me rising exponentially each day. I look forward to commemorating the three-day holiday weekend thinking about how far our country has progressed since Dr. King led the 1955 Montgomery Alabama Bus Boycott. I will also be thinking of next Tuesday’s inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama. Inducting the first African-American US President a day after the national MLK Holiday is just incredible and will mark the beginning of a new world.

As I think of the MLK national holiday and Obama’s inauguration, I can’t help but recognized a few additional connections between the two occasions. It’s interesting to note that Inauguration Day has been held on January 20th since 1937 and the first federally recognized MLK holiday occurred on January 20, 1986. Another interesting fact is that Illinois, the state that elected Barack Obama its US Senator, is the first state in 1973 to adopt MLK Day as a state holiday.

Underneath my extreme enthusiasm I am realistic enough to know that the world is not truly going to change overnight. However, the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States is a sign that our country is moving in the right direction. Any thing is possible if we dare to continue to dream, just like Dr. King dreamed of a better day.

(Image courtesy of ObamaBling.com.)