It's New Year's and safe to say I didn't "have a great day."

That's the thing that we tell each other to do all the time. Strangers wish that upon another. It's the American way of emphasis, to defy the cloudy century we're in so far. (Honey, did we drop George W. Bush a thank-you note?)

On my list of resolutions: A simple "Good day" does fine. Two words. The British add, "I wish you good day," and the French just bid you "adieu."

No worries, my friends, it's not that I didn't have an amazing family Christmas in California, dolphins in the Santa Monica surf and all. The sojourn in Cape May was just as good — deeply clarifying for me.

The first day of the new year sucked because I was busy deciphering signs of the 2014 zeitgeist under the covers, actually. That's my job, to translate that wind into the way we talk on the ground.

2014 def has a different, better "energy" from the get-go. Can you feel it, too?

A force is afoot — or someone is afoot — and his name is Bill de Blasio, the new Democratic mayor of New York, sworn in Wednesday. He's the populist prophet of "income inequality," the new political catchphrase to reach "folks" all over this land.

The canyon between extremes of rich and poor is replayed way beyond New York. The "ridiculously" rich are either getting alarmed or ashamed. The young, the poor and wide swaths of struggling families are feeling sore. It's whispered on the wind and waves.

My Facebook focus group is all in on this. We loved the symbolism for a president of peace and prosperity — his name is Bill Clinton — to swear in de Blasio. Seriously, sir, that bridge to the man from Hope was an "insanely" inspired idea.

How ironic that the president — his name is Barack Obama — is picking up on income inequality at last. This "high concept" could have been the big money shot of his presidency. Instead, health care reform flopped at the box office and that will always have his name on it. Obama is a follower, not a leader, on the rough seas of the economy, especially for the working poor.

Dude, don't even get me started. For five years, Obama could have walked the walk for a higher minimum wage and lower unemployment rate. Clear, straight lines of bread and butter issues make common sense in an age of great anxiety and need. I for one don't want to hear one more fancy speech. Call me when something good breaks his bleak fifth-year streak.

Oddly, Obama is not a phrasemaker for a man who enchanted multitudes. As of yet, we have no exclamations like, "Bully!" In one word, Theodore Roosevelt captured the exuberant optimism that characterized his presidency in the early 20th century. Even warmonger George W. Bush had a pithy phrase that sums him up: "Bring it on!" (Done, darling.)

Perhaps the 44th president's word will become: "selfie." Perfect.

Oh-em-gee, I'm so over Obama, it's crazy. Our generation's cool president doesn't "resonate" like he once did. And it's clear, from under down covers, that we the people will never know him better. Ladies, he's the boyfriend who will never marry you. Somehow he keeps all 300 million of us at a classy distance. "Good job!"

2013 was a year of letting go. America surrendered the semblance of privacy and the world lost the brilliant ray of light named Nelson Mandela.

So what's the new normal? 2014 will be a defining year, with conflicts more out in the open. Also, we'll see starker choices in political candidates and social "sharing" in an economy still languishing from spending trillions on Bush's wars. Sharing is good.

If I too am languishing, it's because I was up late at my editor's New Year's Eve party. Carousing after midnight costs you dearly these days.

I leave you with: "Us love us some good human,'' declared New York's youth poet laureate, Ramya Ramana, at de Blasio's inauguration.

That's what I'm talking about. Enjoy your rest of the year!

To find out more about Jamie Stiehm, and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com