Getting Down To Business

It is the morning after the night before. The parties will have wound down by now. Some people will have a sore head. Some of those sore heads will feel sore that they didn't come through last night; others will be jubilant. However, once all the cheering and crying and consoling have died down, there is the serious business of getting on with business as usual, for everyone of us.

It's my view that this country certainly needed a change. God knows we need a change of direction, a break from the discredited Republican elite that has been driving the global economy into the abyss. I'm sure that the GOP will spend quite a lot of time licking its wounds, and wondering where it went wrong.

Firstly, it had a huge weight around its neck in the form of GW Bush, who has arguably had one of the least successful presidencies in US history. Instead of Bush reaching out to the world, he turned his back on it. In this global age. no country, however big, can afford to do that. Like it or not, it is important to be seen as a friend and a supporter to most of the world, and not simply as a bully that wants all its own way. Just as in school, that is no way to make more friends, or garner support for your ideals. You have to negotiate with people, persuade them that there is a better way, and remember that your own way isn't always the only way, and sometimes isn't the right way for them, even if it seems the right way for you.

Many things that the outgoing administration seem to have held up as the right way, are seemingly not so at this point in time, particularly with the global economy in tatters, largely fueled by a credit crisis that began right here in the USA.

That's another reason why Obama was successful last night. Folks wanted change, and more folks saw Obama being the author of change than they did McCain.

Many folks, myself included, don't have any or very much trust in politicians. They're often seen as self-serving egotists who are 'in it' for their own ends. They speak but don't deliver. Experience tells me this is often the case. Obama might prove to be one of those. I hope not. I always hope not, in any election, whoever is elected.

I'm not afraid of an African-American as President, in fact I look forward to the day we no longer even notice race or gender in elections. It should be insignificant.

I am not excited at the result, not jubilant or ecstatic. I am cautiously optimistic.Then again, that's how I treat life. Never be so optimistic you can't see the hole in the floor because you're dancing too wildly. At any point in time, you're at where you're at, and you've got to find the positive aspects of that, and move forward to where you want to be.

That is true for the United States right now. Things could be a lot better for many people, but things could be much worse, for many many more.

So when the corks have stopped popping, and the euphoria on one side, and the despair on the other, has died down, let's hope that, whoever got your support, that the people in this great nation, can work together to re-vitalize the American Dream.

There is always hope for a better brighter day tomorrow.