Congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama and to all of the people who support him.
Even though the election went to a large majority for Democrats, the popular vote remained close, 52 percent for Obama to 47 percent for Sen. John McCain. Several red states flipped to blue but there was no landslide with the popular vote and it was very close to the tally from the 2004 Bush – Kerry election.
The election does give Obama the strongest showing for a Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
It was heartbreaking to see the country shift so far left. On the other hand it was nice to have a decisive election that wrapped up at 11 p.m.
The best news of all is we have continued the American tradition of a peaceful transfer of power. The lesson to the world is simple. This is the way the United States of America conducts a revolution. This is how a strong people that respect their Constitution resolve their differences.
McCain continued to be a class act as he took his curtain call. In a gracious concession speech he recognized the historic meaning of the election of our first black president.
“A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt’s invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters,” McCain told his supporters in Phoenix. “America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States.”
He went on to say: ” I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him (Obama), but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together. ”
Obama will have the largest challenge he has ever faced and will be tried in ways no one has even anticipated. He will need our prayers and support in the times of crisis to come. He will need to govern with an even hand and respect all of the people that make America work.