President-elect Obama

Well, the elections are over, and Barack Obama won. I did not vote for Obama. Besides the fact that I am a republican and he is a democrat, I am nervous about several of his economic and political ideas, which I won't talk about at this time. However, through an experience that I had the other day, I can absolutely see why people DID vote for Obama.

I was doing the carpool thing the other morning, taking my son Joshua and his friends to school, and had the radio tuned to CNN Headline news on the XM band. I believe it was the Wednesday morning after the election, and they were replaying an Obama speech from the previous night. As I listened to him talk about America and it's values, and the american people and their struggles, I suddenly realized that I was all choked up and near to tears. That man can deliver a speech! He tapped into my patriotic emotions and my fears for the future in a way that was both eloquent and powerful. I found myself wanting to believe him. I can only imagine how people felt who's lives are much more difficult than mine, and who have much less hope for the future. They must have felt an absolute euphoria when hearing him speak. Combine that with most people's desire for change from an unpopular president and his unpopular policies, and there was probably no way that Obama could have lost.

Of course, I understand that many people who voted for him can't think past the end of their noses. One black person who was interviewed after voting said that he voted for Obama because he wouldn't have to work any longer because Obama would finally give the black people what was coming to them. I'm hoping that his was just wishful thinking, rather than a harbinger of things to come. Still, I wish the new president-elect well. He is still the president of my country, like it or not. I hope that he is a man of integrity, and I pray that he will follow principles of integrity and honesty as he leads us for the next four years.