Integrity, American-Style

I watched the Obama victory from a crowded pub last night. Everyone there cheered as announcements appeared on the wide-screen that Obama had taken Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida... and we booed when it was announced that McCain had claimed Alabama, Texas, etc.

When McCain conceded the election, I applauded his presentation. McCain spoke patriotically; he spoke of Americans united. At that moment, walls of political and racial division seemed to evaporate.

Obama spoke with as much integrity as did McCain. He quickly and quietly turned the country's attention toward the reality that there is a lot of work to be done. The celebration was sweet, but the lasting feeling to me is the appreciation of living in a great country that has power to do good: Power to ensure that people have jobs to feed their families. Power to protect our natural environment. Power to alleviate the problems across the world caused by our own misdeeds. Power to educate. Power to find cures for disease and illness. Power to evolve as a people.

With broad smiles of contentment, we slowly navigated through streets cars blowing horns, people on the street shouting and celebrating. We cranked up Manu Chao's Politik Kills, sated with the feeling that politics had been killed, at least temporarily. We rolled beneath roof-top revelers chanting "Obama", strangers on bicycles waving and smiling, others yelling victoriously out of car windows. Of course, we blasted our own victorious horn, and let fly a few "barbaric yawps".

There are concerns in this world far more serious than how much a politician spends on clothes, more important than questioning funny middle names, more deserving of our time than contemplating guilt by past associations. We have the present moment to analyze real problems, re-prioritize, assess, and create plans to solve them. We have vast resources and talent to work for change.

The problems facing America and the world in 2008 are quite real and require immediate attention. We've made it through the labyrinth. Let the walls fall.