What really happened on November 4th?\u00a0 Whom did we elect as President?\u00a0 Did we elect a liberal, leftist, socialist President; a gun control President or a welfare President?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe we elected an African-American President, a hyphenated President that Theodore Roosevelt expressed displeasure with in a speech in 1915 saying, “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism … This is just as true of the man who puts ‘native’ before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen.\u00a0 Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul.\u00a0 Our allegiance must be purely to the United States.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
We hear all these descriptions of our new President, but on November 4th we did not elect any of these men.\u00a0 We simply elected an American President, the 44th President of the United States.\u00a0 Nothing more.\u00a0 Moreover, I believe President-elect Obama would agree.<\/p>\n
But how did he get elected?\u00a0 He should not have been the candidate nor should he have won the election.\u00a0 No one knew him.\u00a0 He had little experience and little national exposure.\u00a0 But, he got people excited.\u00a0 He got people to donate money.\u00a0 He got people to register.\u00a0 He got people to vote.\u00a0 He was elected because he touched the most people.\u00a0 He ran what historians may view as the finest campaign for the Presidency in the history of our country.\u00a0 Both candidates had messages.\u00a0 Both made their case.\u00a0 Both did their best.\u00a0 One message won and one message lost.<\/p>\n
The voters were unhappy with the past eight years and followed the advice of Thomas Jefferson when he wrote, “Should things go wrong at any time, the people will set them to rights by the peaceable exercise of their elective rights.”<\/p>\n
And these same voters elected a new President.\u00a0 Now what?\u00a0 What should those who did not vote for Barack Obama do now?\u00a0 Is it time to get even?\u00a0 Is it time to treat him the way President Bush was treated?\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 There is plenty of ammunition, plenty of questions, plenty of innuendos.\u00a0 Fair’s fair.\u00a0 Shouldn’t Obama face the same assaults, the same outrageous claims, and the same character assassinations that Bush received?\u00a0 Or, can we do better?<\/p>\n
Is it right to offer character assassinations of the man in the most powerful office in the world?\u00a0 If we refuse reasoned debate and instead assault the President’s character, does that damage his character, or does that more accurately reveal our own lack of character?\u00a0\u00a0 It is certainly easier to attack the character of the President than intelligently debate the issues.\u00a0 Perhaps the assaults suggest those making the statements actually have nothing intelligent to offer to the discussion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps, if not the man, at least the office of the President deserves to be treated with respect.\u00a0 When President Reagan walked into the Oval Office on the day of his first Inaugural, he got goose bumps and wasn’t ashamed to say so.\u00a0 Don’t we owe the office of the President of the United States some goose bumps?\u00a0 Doesn’t the President, deserve our respect, even in the face of our disagreement?<\/p>\n
So, what do we do?\u00a0 How do we move forward?\u00a0 We do what we always have done.\u00a0 We make our feelings known.\u00a0 We make our opinions known.\u00a0 We compliment.\u00a0 We complain.\u00a0 We criticize.\u00a0\u00a0 We disagree.\u00a0 We challenge.\u00a0 We protest.<\/p>\n
We may not like the President.\u00a0 We may not agree with the President.\u00a0 We may even be working to get someone elected to replace him in four years.\u00a0 Nevertheless, he is our President, and he represents the Constitution of the United States of America and the office of the Presidency.\u00a0 He has earned our respect and he deserves our respect.<\/p>\n
Was this Presidential campaign and election what our Founding Fathers designed and foresaw?\u00a0 Did our democracy work?\u00a0 Did our Constitution work?\u00a0 Would the Founding Fathers be pleased?\u00a0\u00a0 I think so.\u00a0 I think we paid our respects to them, honoring that amazing experiment of their design; a government created and selected by the people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What really happened on November 4th?\u00a0 On November 4th we witnessed the greatest system of government in the history of the world select a new President without armies, without wars, without a coup d’\u00e9tat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And on January 20th we will once again witness the marvel of our government as Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States says, “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”<\/p>\n
Over 200 years later, our Constitution still works.\u00a0 We owe our Founding Fathers a thank you.<\/p>\n
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