The End and the Beginning

It went off like a charm. No calls for recounting, no Supreme Court intervention, no irregularities with hanging chards.
All the hype about challenges at the polling sites, all the anxiety about disenfranchisement, all the concern over a battle that will stretch out over days or weeks vanished in the face of a six point margin and one of the largest electoral wins in years.
The concession speech came literally minutes after polls closed on the west coast.
Surely, it was a grand concession speech; filled with admiration and a promise to work with the new boss.
Some who heard the concession were unable to move to the next place and like rotten losers, they booed even the mention of his name.
The acceptance speech by our President-elect, just after midnight, was a focused and sober beginning. Mr. Obama began his transition to the Presidency as he began his candidacy, clearly and intelligently. Like a President. Like someone we would be proud to have lead us and this great nation.
The end of the campaign to win the White House was transformed into the beginning of a new era of leadership, one of hope and promise.
An Obama Presidency is what this country needs now.
Strength, intelligence, political savvy, and calm, clear, thoughtful diplomacy.
The Obama administration has a lot on its plate; Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, Russia, oil, energy, education, Wall Street, Main Street, and saving the earth from the savagery of human insolence.
Our outgoing President has left Mr. Obama a mess for sure.
Let's not count the days after January 20, 2009 and evaluate Mr. Obama by how fast things are ticked off, taken care of and solved.
It is entirely possible that, as he said in his acceptance speech, it will take some time to deal with the mess left him. If we question a timeline, if we suppose that he will fail because things aren't done in a week, a month or in 100 days, we fall into the trap of being shortsighted. We elected Mr. Obama to lead us for the next four years, at least.
Let's remain confident that he will, with our collective help, bring us and our nation better days. We are in this together. Not just the blue states, all of the states, united and strong. We can do it. Yes, we can.

A View of the World



Celebrations in Kenya, Indonesia, and across Europe. Impromptu street celebrations across the US. Well over 60% of the American voting public cast their ballots, some weeks or months ahead of time. Voting irregularities were minimal at best, non-existent in most areas.

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America.

Born of parents from different races, different cultures, different beliefs; he lived in different cultures, nations and neighborhoods. He traveled across oceans and nations as a child. He experienced languages, diversity, the richness of cultures so unlike the American experience.

Yet he remains an American model. He is someone to look up to, someone to admire, someone to strive to be like.

How wonderful it would be if, in a few years, young children add his picture to their wall, along side the sports heroes and other cultural icons of our age.

How meaningful it would be if , in the coming months and years, people truly become colorblind.

Wouldn't it be just astounding if, instead of looking at our differences and dismaying at the gaps that keep us apart, we begin to look at our similarities, and revel in our shared diversity.

Wouldn't it be just perfect if in our lifetime, we take a world view and the world takes a world view. In many ways, this world already is a small neighborhood inhabited by families that sometimes get along and sometimes don't.

In the flatness that is our world, it is just grand that this leader, our leader, brings us back into the world through his vision, experience, and intelligence.

It is about time.