It's A New Day

This post will be a collection of rambling thoughts about the election and the future. Yesterday was an amazing day for the US and for the world. Not only did we elect the first African American President, but there have been some major changes as a result of yesterday's elections. For the first time since 1952 there will be no one named Bush or Dole in national elected office. The excitement in the air last night when the election was called was incredible. Less than 50 years after the birth of the civil rights movement, we elected a person of color to the highest office in the nation and to what many see as the most powerful position in the world. I was sitting here wondering this morning about the future; I wondered whether in another 20 or 30 years this country will elect an openly gay or lesbian president. We skirted the possible election of a woman as president (before the conventions) and a woman as vice president (following the convention). The election is over -- Where do we go from here? I was impressed by the acceptance speech of President elect Obama and by the concession speech of Senator McCain. I thought as I listened to McCain, "If he had spoken like this during the campaign, this race might have gone differently." Obama supporters -- we need to be good and gracious winners and not crow about the outcome. McCain supporters -- you need to be good and gracious losers and not boo the results or strive to impede the work that MUST be done over the next four years. The economy is in the toilet; the wars in the Middle East drag on; the image of the presidency and congress is badly tarnished; the overall image of the US is in a shambles around the globe. The only way if we can change the course is to work together and put the country first -- ahead of personal agendas, personal hurts or wrongs. We are the United States, not a bunch of separate groups identified by red or blue, old or young, rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight. Let us all work together from this day forward to bring this nation and this people into the new future that awaits us. And that, my friends, is the way it is this 5th of November.