Originally published in the Florida Student Philosophy Blog
God bless the new President of the United States!
Now let us do all we can do to help him uphold his oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States! Let those of us who pray, pray for him, and let all of us ensure that he hears the voice of the American people on every issue of moment in the hope that he will be able to govern wisely.
Throughout the campaign, Senator McCain kept repeating that “nothing is inevitable.” Well, of course, but even though African Americans are still a minority, almost everyone of them became an immediate committed campaign worker for Obama. And why not? If Guiliani had gotten the nod, I admit that I would have felt a little prouder, a little more committed knowing that a New York Italian had a chance at the presidency. How grand it is that an African American is at last president! I only wish that he had been a Conservative. Perhaps he will come to his senses (ha ha) . We will surely put the politics of race behind us now, especially since Obama will not be spared the sharpest criticism , for he is in the hot seat. The Republicans will no doubt find African Americans to push to the top of the Party, so that they may throw the biggest rocks. This can only be good for the nation.
At the same time, we can look at our opponent’s party organization with awe. It was brilliant. There are so many lessons we can learn from it, and commit ourselves to a return to a party organization where we actually ask lower ranks what they think, and give them a real opportunity to contribute and commit, as the Obama organization so obviously has. They are not going away now, having tasted the sweetness of real victory, so we have no choice.
Will we come together as a nation? I doubt it, not yet. It seems to me that we have never been more divided than we are today. The policies of President Obama, as he has explained them, are anathema to many of us, myself most definitely included. Yet to the extent that he operates within the bounds of the Constitution, we must support him in anyway we can as we watch his administration play out. This is an essential component to any democracy, a component that has been lacking for decades in our country. After the debate is over and the vote is taken, the minority throws what support it can behind the majority for the good of the whole. We give their programs a chance to develop, to work or not work, until the time when they may be fairly criticized and the debate begun anew. I will encourage my own party to do just that, even as I work to help rebuild it, and expel the factions that are, in my decidedly biased opinion, responsible for its defeat.
