Natalie Raps '12 will serve as the President of the Student Assembly for the next academic year. Raps' executive vice president will be Adam Gitlin '13. 

 Humanity has practiced and developed medicine for over 4,000 years, and its oath of responsibility, Primum non nocere, is “First, do no harm.” At his recent lecture, Dr. Bernard Shapiro '52, who has served his community for 38 years as a family physician, advocated for the significance of primary care physicians. He said that an essential way of fostering the doctor-patient relationship is by being a rational thinker - one who truly understands the patient.  However, he believes changes to the American Health Care System may interfere with the doctor-partient relationship.

You may think of the president as the “boss” of Cornell University but, believe me, I have many to whom I “report”: de jure, the Board of Trustees and de facto, the students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni of Cornell.

Last night, in a rare address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama issued yet another appeal to Congress and the American public regarding his highly controversial healthcare reform. Despite his “excellent” delivery, several Cornell professors expressed reservations on the actual impact of the speech.

In his remarks, the president emphasized the importance and timeliness of healthcare reform since “health care represents one-sixth of our economy.”

He began by outlining some of the current problems facing our healthcare system, including the concern that “if you move, lose your job, or change your job, you’ll lose your health insurance.”

Barry’s presidency hasn’t begun as smoothly as his faithful flock had hoped. Even before Inauguration Day, then President-elect Obama had to continually nominate and rescind nominations for his not-so-thoroughly vetted cabinet candidates (Do you know the fourth nominee for Secretary of Commerce’s name?).

From the outset of his presidency, Obama has faced a once-in-a-century economic challenge from collapsing industries integral to the American economy. This administration’s so-called bailouts of sub-prime borrowers, America’s big three automakers and the Wall Street fat cats who stole and swindled investors have faced scathing criticism across the board.

Today is a day for new beginnings. As the Cornell community comes back to life with the start of spring semester, an estimated 2 million people from all around the country and the world descend on our nation’s capital to celebrate another beginning — the inauguration of the 44th president, Barack Obama. Over 100 of this throng will be Cornellians, looking to take part in the making of lifetime memories and of history.

At noon today, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

The change is long overdue. Obama’s inauguration should make all Americans proud, regardless of race, creed or political affiliation. But, while the moment is sweet, our new leader will have no time to rest.

As soon as Obama steps into the Oval Office, he will inherit the reins of a nation mired in debt and reeling from a string of foreign policy failures. And to top it off, he will be expected to somehow heal the country’s wounded markets and deliver millions of Americans from insolvency.