Yesterday was just an interesting day. I don't care who you voted for, yesterday's election was historically significant. To watch a black man become our president-elect was something that actually gave me chills, and I'm the whitest dude around. I can only imagine what it means to someone who lived through the civil rights conflict in the 60s to see this happen. It's significant and it shows that maybe, just maybe, this country isn't full of ignorant, racist hill-jacks.
I voted for Obama, and here's the biggest reason why: thanks to President Bush, our reputation around the world is shot. Obama has the ability to restore our reputation around the world. If you don't believe me, go around the Web and peruse some international newspapers. One international newspaper read, "Welcome back friends." America's reputation may seem like a stupid reason to vote for someone, but I think it's significant. If no one is willing to work with us (which they aren't now), then we will never be able to truly solve some of the global problems that face us today. If we're going to be a world leader again, we need a President that can work well with other leaders, not in a position of pride, but one of service. When I hear Obama speak, I don't hear the same prideful "we're right and you're wrong" cowboy crap that I've had to listen to for the last eight years. I'm tired of American arrogance. It is contributing to our downfall as a nation and I feel like Obama can remedy that problem. He'll never deliver on all of his promises, because no politician ever does, however, I don't see him making things worse.
I watched McCain's concession speech last night. It was extremely classy (minus his hateful audience who repeatedly "boo'd" every time Obama's name was mentioned) and I couldn't help but wonder how the outcome would be different had he taken the approach he took last night instead of eviscerating Obama for the last four months. All of the hate-speech from his campaign in the last few months seemed insincere to me (at least coming out of him). Last night's speech seemed sincere to me. It made me see that McCain is a good and honorable man who was given some really, really bad campaign advice by whoever was pulling the strings. It was good to hear his words and I gained a great deal of respect for him.
Finally, we all need to keep in mind that it isn't up to the government to fix everyone's problems. In fact, Obama said as much last night in his speech. The government can't totally eradicate poverty, but individuals can. We all need to get off our butts and make a difference. As Obama mentioned last night, change doesn't happen because one person gets elected; change only happens when people get out do something about the problems we face as a nation. It's time for Christians especially to step up and show the world what love and compassion looks like.
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