Time for Change: November 2008

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I found this humorous.
http://www.suntimes.com/images/cds/special/family_tree.html

Obama's Victory Speech

Barack Obama: 44th President Of The United States Of America
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jrF18Gh44E)

Originally posted: November 5, 2008
Election tested nation's character

A headline over an election story in Tuesday's Guardian, a British newspaper, read simply, "America's moment of truth."

And that it was—a test of our nation's character.

Were we really ready, as all the polls said we were, to elect a mixed-race man with an African-Arabic name as our 44th president?

Were we going to take a chance on an inspiring, charismatic candidate who spoke of hope and promised a new direction in troubled times?

Or was the American electorate going to shrink back on the day of decision? Would they listen, in the end, to the voices of doubt, fear, deceit and hatred that were begging them to change their minds?

Don't get me wrong. Many fine people found many fine reasons to support John McCain—his proposals, his philosophy, his record and his experience in Washington. There just weren't enough of them. Polls showed over and over again that neither McCain's positions nor his party were popular enough for him to beat Barack Obama.

So to pry away defectors and energize his base, McCain launched an infamous and ugly effort to tar Obama as a dangerous, unpatriotic radical, socialist and terrorist sympathizer who wants to kill babies and tell kindergartners all about sex.

Sorry not to be as gracious in victory as Obama was Tuesday night in his Grant Park speech, but it was as contemptible an effort to smear a fundamentally honorable man as I've ever seen. By stoking anger, resentment and paranoia in great swaths of the population, McCain has left us facing yet another moment of truth—the next test of our nation's character.

Obama's victory tells me we'll pass that test too.

Channel News Asia

Some McCain supporters harbour bitter feelings over election results

By Channel NewsAsia's US Correspondent Malcolm Brown Posted: 05 November 2008 2154 hrs

Phoenix, ARIZONA: Republican Senator John McCain conceded the presidential race to Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday, saying his rival had achieved a "great thing" for himself and the country with his historic victory. It was the moment that even die-hard John McCain supporters have to accept - that the polls were basically right and that their candidate's race for the White House was conclusively over. "Dear friends, we have come to the end of our journey, the American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly," McCain said. The defeated Republican gave a gracious concession speech, urging his supporters to work with the president-elect on the nation's problems. As they headed home, not all the Republican faithful seem receptive to that message. After such a long hard race, there were obvious hard feelings among McCain supporters. "Barack Obama has done nothing ever in his life. He doesn't deserve this. It is a sad day in American democracy and that's exactly how I feel," one of them said. The verdict of the electorate leaves the Republicans contemplating a future, in which they control neither the Congress nor the White House. "We're going to have to be a firewall against this radical leftist agenda," a Republican said. As the Democrats celebrate the extraordinary night, disappointed Republicans face a painful post mortem and a potentially bitter struggle over the future party direction.