YOUR ROLE IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

TODAY AT NOON, as Barack Hussein Obama places his left hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible and raises his right arm, let us all take the oath of office with him.

We all have a role in the Obama administration, no matter who got our vote on Nov. 4. We all have a responsibility to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

From the wasteland of the so-called "ownership society" (Translation: "You're on your own"), our new president has led us to the threshold of common purpose. As he showed during his remarkable campaign and transition, Obama still is a community organizer, but his "community" now encompasses all 50 states.

President Obama is calling us not only to participate in community service - those "thousand points of light" hailed by President George H.W. Bush. In a way that feels revolutionary- maybe because it feels so authentic- Obama is inviting advice, creativity, support and most importantly, pressure from ordinary citizens in the form of issues advocacy. As members of his transition team told a lobbyist for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, "You've got to create coalitions that make us do what we said we would do during the campaign."

Just as his campaign relied on contributions from volunteers of money, skill and time, Obama's transition sought the views of individuals on his www.change.gov Web site. That movement - complete with its 13 million e-mail addresses - now has become a grassroots organization being run through the Democratic National Committee, it was announced on Sunday. Called Organizing for America, Obama said the "special project" would be a way for the people who elected him (and some who didn't) to continue to "fight for change in their communities."

Maybe at this moment, we need to expand our sense of community to include the country at large. For example, a few issues where Obama and Congress will need our help: In looking again at the situation in Afghanistan and determining whether a stepped-up military campaign is the wisest course; in providing domestic "cover" for a more balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; in holding accountable those who have violated the law and the Constitution; in demanding affordable health care, better education, and fairer treatment for workers; in embracing not only the development of new alternative energy, but also conservation to reduce consumption.

These are some of our priorities; you may have others. What's critical, though, is that we all take responsibility for our part of this endeavor by remaining engaged and informed - and willing to act, to write letters, to send e-mails, to attend forums, to demand access to the power once held only by the lobbyists on K Street.

It was a failure to be informed that led so much of this country to fall victim to fear and demagoguery, a weakness for distraction. As people in the information business, we recognize how the press has fallen short of its responsibility to ask tough questions. Like the Obama administration, we need pressure to resist focusing only on gossip and conflict, and support for fulfilling our assigned role in this democracy.

Today at noon, as Barack Hussein Obama takes the oath of office, let us all pledge to pursue the repair of our world, to make real what Martin Luther King, Jr. called "a true revolution of values."

So help us God. *