Excited for America

The morning following the 2008 Presidential Election, I am excited. A rough'n'tumble campaign season has essentially come to a close, God bless us! In my opinion, the Republican and Democratic parties both brought out the worst in many of us over the past year--and also the best in others. It is a sad thing to see the ridiculously shallow mud-slinging that occurs in national politics, although from my business experience I understand that most of that is a marketing campaign directed at cognitive misers.

Being 24 years old myself, one of the best experiences of the past year was once again realizing how much I don't know about how the world "works". Taxes, healthcare, education, social reform--what a headache! Like anything in modern times I've accepted that there is no right answer to such issues, only a best strategy for forward progress. With Senator Barack Obama as the projected President-Elect, he will be our leader for the next 4 years of America's progress.

I hold a deep respect for Senator John McCain and see his electoral loss as an emotional event that many voters will question. John McCain's long career of public service may not be capped with the presidency, however he made his best run at it and he can look back with pride.

Barack Obama's trail to the White House has followed an interesting and ultimately unprecedented course. Tears of Jesse Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, and probably the 106-yr. old woman from Atlanta--Ann Nixon Cooper--tell a certain story. There is another story. It's a story of a new America and new leadership. We are such a young nation it is hard to embrace the idea of big change. Some will argue that we are going against the vision of our Founding Fathers. The truth though, is that while all great men, this country's founders lived in a different time. We have unbelievably advanced and complex challenges to face today. We do not need to buck our beloved stone-faced national figures of importance or credibility. We just need to contemporize their aims.

All things promised or preached during the last year's campaigning will not be realized in only 4 years, if at all--that much is obvious. Distractions such as national economic swing, earth-moving hurricanes, and global conflict will always arise and redirect focus. The timeless American takeaway of turbulence is that we need to come together. It's time to move forward.