There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?
--Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)
Last night at approximately 11 pm EST, history was made as Senator John McCain, a bona fide war hero and truly an American for all seasons, strode purposely to the podium on the magnificent stage set up under a starry Arizona sky in anticipation of his victory to make one of the most graceful and eloquent concession speeches ever made.
And by so doing, this battered but unbowed son of the United States Navy helped chart a course the entire nation would be wise to follow. That is, after the longest and most expensive presidential campaign in American history, it is time to put away the brickbats and slip the political machines into neutral long enough for the new president-elect to begin to govern.
Because, in the end, no matter how many historical firsts are scored in any election, the American people ultimately choose a President because they want a leader who will not politick endlessly by being divisive but who will govern by seeking to bring us together as much as humanly possible for common cause.
President-elect Barack Obama on the campaign trail
There's no denying our great nation faces an uphill slog as we continue to deal with a host of issues-- from the economy to foregn affairs and national security to climate change and so much more-- and in my view there is no better way to make progress on these many fronts than by doing so not as citizens of blue states and of red states, but as citizens of the United States of America.
"...there is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America -- there‘s the United States of America."
--Barack Obama, July 27, 2004, speech before Democratic National Convention