To the Editor,

People will remember the date of Feb. 10, 2009 for a long time as the day that President Obama came to Southwest Florida.

As hundreds stood in line to get into see our 44th President, one could only feel the excitement all around.

People were passing by all the time and sharing their family and personal history with each other. It was so refreshing to hear of the positive talk about where we are as a country and also about how far we have come.

Getting to the door after passing through the security detectors, the drama and thrill began to increase.

We made our way to our seats and shared new stories and knowledge with those around us.

For me, I saw a great mixture of the strength of America on everyone that things will get better.

There have been only a handful of leaders in the world that have been able to speak and give hope and reassurance to people and President Obama is one of those people.

I pray we put forth the same effort in supporting him and his plan as we did to elect him.

Hope has been given back to the people with the day that the President came to Southwest Florida

Tony Simmons

Lehigh Acres