On the Election of Barack Obama

My daughter, Allyn, having lived her entire adult life under the Bush "administration", broke down in tears of joy several times during election night and sometimes even near-hysterical laughter. She had spent the entire day transporting Obama street-canvassers to neighborhoods in Bucks County. She spent many hours working for the Kerry campaign 4 years ago only to have her hopes dashed in the end so the election of Mr. Obama brought joy and catharsis.

To see my daughter so joyful about the outcome was reason enough to consider it a glorious night. IWhile I still believe hard times are ahead, knowing we will have a President with vision, intelligence, inquisitiveness, genuine morals and values, and real compassion for the less privileged among us gives me hope as we emerge from the utter moral void that has been the last 8 years in America. Perhaps those in the "red states" can take some solace in seeing a President who practices Christianity rather than just talking about it as a political device.

I lived in Fairfax County, Virginia, just outside of D.C., in August 1963 and still recall seeing bits of the March on Washington on TV-- the speeches and the heavenly gospel voice of Mahalia Jackson on that day. My, how far we've traveled since that day. We still have a long way to go and my earnest hope is that President Obama (yes --Barack HUSSEIN Obama) will help lead us there. He certainly has the charisma and leadership skills that make people want to do their part. I'm filled with high hopes for the first time in a very long while.


"'Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!'"
- Jacob Marley in
-- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, 1843