As I watched the blue numbers climb yesterday, I had a sense of relief and satisfaction. (I suspect it was the same kind of feeling had by those who watched George Bush’s numbers climb in 2000 and 2004. Of course, I know today many of those same people are glum and dispirited and angry.)
Obama’s election was good for three reasons: First, it puts and end to an era of arrogance, contempt, and mismanagement in Washington.
Were I a political cartoonist, I would have portrayed George Bush as a little kid rushing into a kindergarten classroom where the other kids had built an array of block towers. And there is George, gleefully kicking blocks around the room.
Bush now is in time-out. Soon, Obama will have the opportunity to do his best to sweep up the mess.
The second reason – and perhaps the more important – is the election of a man whose skin color and ethic background does not match what some believe to be those of “real America.” Yet real American he is. This divisiveness from the McCain campaign troubled me more than anything. Divisiveness of any kind leads only to trouble and suffering.
I appreciate John McCain’s concession speech, which was sincere and statesman like:
These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to [Obama] tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.
I urge all Americans … I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.
Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.
I hope those who found yesterday a disappointment will heed McCain’s words of unity and support and, at least, give Obama the opportunity to succeed rather than spend the next four years doing whatever they can to disrupt the process for no reason other than hatred.
Baseball didn’t come to an end when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Rather, it goes on and on. A well-played game still excites the crowds no matter what color the players.
The third reason Obama’s election is important is now that we’ve got a black man – indeed a black family – in the white house (or nearly so), we can continue the business of electing wise leaders – regardless of physical attributes – rather than greedy, self-indulgent, and deluded ones. Instead of seeing Obama as a man of color, I hope he will be seen as the man of wisdom he has shown himself to be during the campaign.
If anything will destroy this country, it will be a sustained run of unwise leaders.
2 Comments
Funny you should mention Bush kicking other kids’ blocks around the room. I’ve been seeing him for years as a little boy with overly indulgent parents who provided him an endless supply of tin soldiers to move around. I have never once had the feeling that he understood that war is for real and that real people, ours and theirs, are getting killed every day.
I believe that Pres-elect Obama is exactly the leader we need now. He is wise, compassionate, reasonable, most deservedly self-confident yet also humble. He is inheriting a glorious mess, but if we can all put our petty disagreements behind us and support him, he will do great things for this country and for all who deal with us.
I can’t wait until he takes office!
Heart,… Glorious mess is an understatement. Still, there will be (are) those who will find fault with anything he does in trying to fix it. I imagine in due time he will acquire all the blame for everything bad that has happened in this country since the last Democratic scapegoat left office. Nonetheless, this is going to be an interesting and, I think, inspirational, four years.