It has been a year filled with what President Barack Obama promised the nation — hope and change.
But that promise hasn't always been fulfilled in quite the way he meant it, and we understood it. Many of the hopes have not been realized, and many of the changes have been divisive and rancorous.
Coming off 2008, the year of the biggest economic crash in a generation, the majority of the nation was almost delirious with hope and anticipation at the start of 2009, that things would be both different and better — much better. The inauguration of Obama not only put a Democrat back in the White House, it signaled a transformative first in American history — the country's first African-American president.
Also, just a week before the inauguration, American spirits were lifted when Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, brought the jet safely down on the Hudson River in New York City, when a collision with a flock of birds just after take-off from LaGuardia Airport took out both engines. It came to be known as the "Miracle on the Hudson."
But then, hope collided with reality. In spite of the promise that a $787 billion "economic stimulus" package would hold unemployment below 8 percent and rebuild the nation's infrastructure, the rate officially topped 10 percent, with the informal admission that real unemployment was more like 17 percent, when those who had stopped looking for work were counted.
Meanwhile, much of the stimulus money remains unspent, and the majority of what has been committed has been devoted to propping up existing public sector jobs rather than overhauling infrastructure.
And while the recession was declared over at mid-year, based on solid statistical evidence — home sales were up, the stock market was recovering and the economy was expanding — that technicality was not the reality for most citizens, or even for some of the nation's biggest corporations. Two of the Big Three automakers filed for bankruptcy. And the staggering debt the government was taking on prompted fears of a financial hangover for coming generations.
The hope of a year when wars would end and peace would return went unfulfilled as well. While President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize and the nation is slowly winding down its involvement in Iraq, it is ramping up what Obama called the "necessary" war in Afghanistan. His efforts to engage with Iran have not reduced the enmity from a totalitarian regime bent on developing nuclear weapons.
And while the prison at Guantanamo Bay will likely close sometime in 2010, the terrorists held there will simply be moved to a prison on American soil.
Indeed, the threat from terrorism remains as strong and lethal as ever, even under a new president who has repudiated and apologized for the bellicose rhetoric of the Bush years. An Army psychiatrist is accused of killing 13 fellow soldiers at Ft. Hood, after a rampage in November. And as the year drew to a close, a terrorist tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas Day, on its approach to Detroit.
The threats were not just from human enemies. The swine flu has not become a pandemic, but the threat remains. While the debate continues over climate change, those who contend it is man-made warn that we are under a threat of global disaster.
Closer to home, the Massachusetts economy continues to struggle. Gov. Deval Patrick and the Legislature hit citizens with a $900 million tax increase in August, via a 25 percent hike in the sales tax, and a new, 6.25 percent tax on liquor.
But that, so far, has been not nearly enough to solve government money problems. Tax collections are still down, state aid to cities and towns dropped, and the region's major cities — Lawrence, Methuen and Haverhill — are all facing multi-million dollar deficits.
The losses of the year went beyond financial. A literary era ended with the death of author John Updike in January. Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, a Massachusetts native and one of the most colorful pitchers in major league history, died in April at 54. And an iconic era in national and Massachusetts politics ended with the death in August of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at 77.
In sports, it was a year without something we have grown to expect during the decade now ending — championships. But there is still hope — the Patriots are in the playoffs and the Celtics are among the NBA's best.
The year ended with a preliminary legislative triumph for President Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress, when both houses passed bills that would put the government in control of the nation's health care system and, according to its proponents, bring health care to millions of uninsured.
But even the victory could prove costly. A majority of Americans oppose it now, and opponents say it will increase government debt exponentially and still leave 25 million people without coverage.
Still, in the face of hopes unrealized, there is optimism. Lawrence will see its own transformative first on Monday, when William Lantigua is sworn in as the first Latino mayor in that city's history. Retailers saw signs of hope during the Christmas shopping season.
And this nation, this state and its communities have always risen to challenges with energy and entrepreneurial spirit.
That energy and attitude is what will make 2010 truly a Happy New Year.
