I feel great this morning, and not just because my candidate, Barack Obama, won the presidential election last night. I feel great because it was a great example of American democracy at work. I feel great because of the record turnout all over the country (and hope it's a trend that continues in future elections; I think it will). I feel great beacuse, after a bitterly-fought campaign that got a bit negative at the end, both candidates showed remarkable grace last night.
John McCain's concession speech was powerful and re-affirmed his commitment to country and to public service. How we lose is just as important as how we win, and McCain showed the world what it's like to concede with class. It was bittersweet--he would much rather have given a victory speech--but in his concession, I saw the... well, presidential McCain that I'd been looking for since August.
Barack Obama's victory speech hit just the right notes. It was celebratory without being triumphalist. He acknowledged a fact that is overlooked or ignored by most victorious candidates, that he must be the president both of his supporter and his detractors. Were I to assume elected office (which I hope never to do), I hope I would always remember my duty to all the people: those who voted for me and those who didn't. I'd even go so far as to suggest that elected officials have a special responsibility (duty?) to listen to the voices of their political adversaries. President-Elect Obama acknowledged this last night.
Anyhoo, I feel great today. Hopeful.
3 comments:
You have a blog?! Great!
Congratulations to all of you for the great election, and especially the high turnout. I think the whole rest of the world was rooting for Obama - or at least Europe was. Did you guys get a sense of that at all?
Anyway, I hope this is the start of a great new era for the US.
I felt the same way. I was especially moved by McCain's concession speech and how he was truly gracious- I am with you that he seemed more presidential in his concession than he had in the last two months of campaigning!
I am hopeful for our future as a country and as a part of the larger global community...
Some pundit or other remarked that if the man who gave the concession speech had been the man who campaigned, we'd have had a much harder battle on our hands.
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