History

Four American ideals Obama mentioned in his speech tonight struck me: "democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope." His election does indeed represent those qualities of the United States -- democracy because it represents the will of the people, liberty because those rights we all take for granted were expressed, opportunity because a Black man can become President, and hope because he did it with a positive message. I've taken some flak in recent days for having "buyer's remorse," and I do have some qualms about Obama's stance on abortion in particular. But I don't doubt that this election has given us as a country a chance to start believing in some of those core principles in new ways. And John McCain was eloquent in defeat. He didn't exploit racial fears and bigotry in his campaign, and I applaud him for that. He ran a principled campaign, just as much as Obama did. And for all the attacks and counter-attacks, the question came down to who best represented change. Obama successfully argued that a McCain presidency would mean more of the same, while painting a picture of how he would represent change. Now it remains to be seen whether that change will be carried out.