A Message to President-Elect Obama
Congratulations, Mr. President-Elect Obama. This may sound odd coming from someone who did not cast her vote in your favor, but I am truly happy for you and your role in history. How amazing that only 40 years after we were fighting segregation, our nation elects a man who happens to be African American to the highest office in the land. The significance of what happened yesterday—and the years leading up to it—is monumental.
I woke up this morning not with feelings of bitterness and ill-will, but with feelings of respect and dare I say—hope.
I hope you can unite this country as you vowed to in your acceptance speech.
I hope your plans and policies really can repair the economy.
I hope you really do want to listen to us who disagreed with you. I hope our values and opinions really do matter.
I hope you can protect our country from those who wish us harm.
I hope we are ALL better off with you in the White House.
I hope I find out I was wrong about you and your policies.
So even though my vote did not swing your way, I will hold my head high and do all I can to protect and support this country.
And that includes viewing the President of our great nation as a man of reverence who deserves our utmost respect. For as you said last night, we are the UNITED States of America.
God Bless the U.S.A.! And God Bless our President.
Excellent post, and very well said.
Obama most definitely needs to uphold his promise to listen to those voters that didn’t vote for him.
We have to remember that McCain had a lot of baggage on his back these last few weeks. Things that were happening in this country that people had to throw on SOMEONE, and in this election season, it happened to be him. Poor economy, people being dissatisfied with Bush, and McCain’s choice of VP took a lot of flack as well. Considering McCain took 46% of the popular vote EVEN WITH all the baggage should send a very loud message to Obama.
As an Obama supporter myself, I will gladly admit that this election would have taken a very different turn had it not been for some negative things happening in the country lately.
Jenni makes good points. Despite all the negative campaigning, we haven’t had an election this close in quite awhile. (Not one that didn’t involve hanging and pregnant chads, anyway.) So that in itself is exciting! I think both candidates’ speeches last night were inspiring and well said. They are setting the example to unite and move on, so it’s wonderful to hear so many people at work today (from both sides of the fence) conveying the same sentiments and following that example. We are all very anxious to see what will happen next! I think both candidates learned a lot from this election, and hopefully they will both carry those things with them and in their respective roles both do great things for our country!
Great post, Paula. As I’ve gone through the day I’ve lost my disappointment and I, too, hope that Obama can keep his promises.
I really hope Sarah Palin continues as herself and doesn’t take any beatings for being the reason McCain lost. Because I can say honestly that my vote wouldn’t have gone his way without her by his side.
Yes, congratulations to you, Mr. President-Elect Obama! I was awake for a long time last night, not because I was full of nerves and unease about our future, but because I felt the air electrified with the history that was being made right before my eyes! I personally felt this year both presidential candidates, for the first time in many years, were respectable and decent men. For me, it came down strictly to the politics and it took a long time for me to make a decision. But, I was thrilled to be able to really feel like I was making more a choice of whom to vote FOR than whom to vote AGAINST, as I have felt in the past. I felt the unity and the hope in the air last night as well. I applaud all the candidates for their personal sacrifices (imagine how supportive and patient their spouses and families must be!) and I wish our new leader and his family well! And to the Obama girls…congrats on your new puppy! 🙂
Great blog.
All I can say is Amen to all you said.
Love you.
So wonderfully put. You spoke with words from your heart, and that is important.
Both men had wonderful ideas, plans and goals. Both would have, in the end been a wonderful asset to have in office. The speeches last night moved me, and that is not easy when it comes to politics.
I am exicted to see what happens, but also nervous as the rest of the world is.
I think we must remember, though, to give him time. I don’t recall ANY presidents that I haven’t voted for giving ANYTHING to me. I think we have to give him the benefit of the doubt that what he wants is a better America for EVERYONE in it. He will not do this by catering to those who didn’t vote for him, but by backing situations that will be for the COMMON good. I think it’s easy to say that McCain would have won if he didn’t have so much baggage, but Obama had much of the same baggage (i.e. economy, disatifaction of current government, etc.).
For me, this election stands for much more than choosing a leader. It stands for Americans from BOTH parties saying, “enough is enough” and demanding that things be better. Saying that current state added to McCain’s demise sounds like looking for excuses. The popular vote was close, but the electoral was not…and while I don’t like the whole electoral college style of voting we use, it is the one we use. By making excuses for McCain, no matter who one voted for, it’s taking away from the fact that Obama ran a VERY smart campaign. He stands for hope, and I for one feel it for the first time in many years.
Well said! I know things won’t change over night or even a year from now, but I do hope that we see progress. If there is no progress towards the “change” that everyone is talking about, then in my opinion, he failed. Only time will tell, right?
I don’t recall any presidents I voted FOR giving me anything either. Is that really the role of the president? Is that what we look for? What can he give ME? I know you know better than that. I also don’t think you believe that. You are not a selfish soul, but many in our country are. We ought to want a president who will give the country what it needs.
I am hopeful that President-elect O’bama rules from the center. It has been said that he is a student of Clinton’s early presidency, i.e. the first two years. So he hopefully won’t make the same mistake of over-reaching and trying to take this country where it’s not ready to go. That is far left.
Exit polls from MSNBC ask “On most political matters do you consider yourself liberal, moderate, or conservative?”
The results:
Liberal 22%
Moderate 44%
Conservative 34%
We can take from that polling that the US is still a center-right country. Which means to be an effective leader O’bama needs to be the leader that he has shown he can be. Tell Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, that it will NOT be politics as usual.
Based on his ability to move young and old alike I too am hopeful that this is what we’ll see. But I’ve been disappointed in those I’ve voted for and against in the past. Call me a cynic or a realist, but I HOPE I’m not disappointed this time.
Art, I agree and I didn’t mean to come across as someone who says, “What’s the president going to do for ME?” I believe that it is our responsibility to provide for ourselves and create our own destinies, not wait to get all I can from the government. Because, we all know that it’s not really the PRESIDENT giving us all these things–it’s the PEOPLE giving it to us via their tax dollars that they’ve worked hard to earn and give back for the good of our country.
I too hope that Obama can unite everyone, and that will mean not catering to the far left sector of the population. I believe he CAN do that, and I truly hope he WILL. He’s got a long road ahead of him, and I do think he’s got the energy, intelligence, and temperament to be an inspiring president as long as he doesn’t cave in to pressure from far-left liberals, in which case I think he would only divide the country more. As I said before, I only wish him the best, and I’ll be praying for him every day.
pj, i don’t think that it was you that came off as selfish and i think it was my comment that did and that was being commented on. of course, i didn’t mean that presidents i didn’t vote for didn’t do anything for me. heck, even G-dub gave me a 200 dollar tax write off for being a teacher! lol