Transcript: ‘This is your victory,’ says Obama

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

…. young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

Undivided United States of America

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

Thinking of Maya Angelou‘s poem:

‘STILL I RISE’

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise…..

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

With the phenomenal event of graduation from outdated divisiveness, the nation of America is finally living up to the words of its founders.

Almost a century and a half ago, eleven Protestant denominations mounted a campaign to add references to God to the U.S. Constitution and other federal documents. Rev. M.R. Watkinson of Ridleyville PA was the first of many to write a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase in 1861 to promote this concept. ₂ Watkinson suggested the words “God, Liberty, Law.” ₃ In 1863, Chase asked the Director of the Mint, James Pollock to prepare suitable wording for a motto to be used on Union coins used during the Civil War. Pollock suggested “Our Trust Is In God,” “Our God And Our Country,” “God And Our Country,” and “God Our Trust.” Chase picked “In God We Trust” to be used on some of the government’s coins.  The phrase was a subtle reminder that the Union considered itself on God’s side with respect to slavery. Congress passed enabling legislation. Since a 1837 Act of Congress specified the mottos and devices that were to be placed on U.S. coins, it was necessary to pass another Act to enable the motto to be added. This was done on 1886-APR-22. “The motto has been in continuous use on the one-cent coin since 1909, and on the ten-cent coin since 1916. It also has appeared on all gold coins and silver dollar coins, half-dollar coins, and quarter-dollar coins struck since” 1908-JUL-1. ₃

Decades later, Theodore Roosevelt disapproved of the motto. In a letter to William Boldly on 1907-NOV-11, he wrote:

“My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege…It is a motto which it is indeed well to have inscribed on our great national monuments, in our temples of justice, in our legislative halls, and in building such as those at West Point and Annapolis — in short, wherever it will tend to arouse and inspire a lofty emotion in those who look thereon. But it seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use on coins, just as it would be to cheapen it by use on postage stamps, or in advertisements.”

In 1956, the nation was suffering through the height of the cold war, and the McCarthy communist witch hunt. Partly in reaction to these factors, the 84^th Congress passed a joint resolution to replace the existing motto with “In God we Trust.”

E pluribus unum, Latin for “Out of Many, One”

In 1869, George M. Beard (1840-1883) called “the American disease”, arising from so-called “civilized morality”— hidden conflicts due to hypocrisy. According to Beard, upwardly mobile citizens continence, religious purity, and even married celibacy, were having illicit affairs with “loose” women, which often created “mental problems.”  Today’s dysfunctional remnant from 1950s, image over substance, must be minimalized before it can be erased.  The American habit of believing in quick fixes must be addressed.

Now it’s ‘Cool America’
By Kent Ewing – HONG KONG – Finally, after eight years of insult, embarrassment and shame – it is once again cool to be an American living abroad. The George W Bush debacle is mercifully over, and it doesn’t matter if you are black, white or otherwise. Suddenly, you’re cool. Your accent is cool, your mixed heritage is even cooler and your willingness to embrace that larger world outside the borders of the United States is cooler still.

What a difference a presidential election can make.

Bush: All Americans can be proud

• NEW: President Bush: Obama victory represents a triumph of the American story
• World leaders congratulate Barack Obama on winning U.S. presidential election
• Most stocks rise in Asia as Obama win seen positively; markets fall in Europe
  
• Kenyan President Kibaki calls Obama victory “our own victory”

President Bush said the people had chosen a president “whose journey represents a triumph of the American story.”

He added: “It will be a stirring sight to watch President Obama, his wife, Michelle and their beautiful girls step through the doors of the White House.

“I know millions of Americans will be overcome with pride at this inspiring moment that so many have waited for for so long.”

World leaders congratulate Obama

In the interest of unity, I will share thoughts from eric at THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS:

The People Have Spoken

The American people have spoken.

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/

John McCain conceded. There are no hanging chads or recounts. The election is over.

There will be many days ahead where I will offer everything from analysis to criticism to self reflection.

Today, as much as I am disappointed, I offer only congratulations.

Senator Barack Obama won this race fair and square. We can argue about merit and policy, and in the coming months we absolutely will. However, getting elected in politics is a game, and Barack Obama played it well enough within the established rules to win.

Was he lucky? Absolutely. Yet winners capitalize on lucky breaks. Barack Obama cannot have predicted the financial crisis, but enough Americans felt that they could trust him with the nation’s highest office.

Am I worried? Absolutely. However, I am willing to wait and see. Barack Obama is a complete mystery to me. There is still much about him that we do not know.

Is he a stark raving leftist ideologue or a ruthless cold pragmatist?

Will he govern from the left or the center?

I want to see his cabinet.

For now, I want Senator Obama to know that I love my nation more than I ever disagreed with him. I saw how the left treated George W. Bush. I will not become part of an angry mob. I do not hate this man. I genuinely want to work with him.

If he truly wants to govern in a bipartisan manner, I will hear him out. If he decides that those that disagree with him are enemies, than I will work full throttle to protect and defend what I believe in. [READ FULL ARTICLE]

For now, I offer some disjointed thoughts.

For one, it is a genuine shame that his grandmother did not live to see his achievement. I lost my grandmother 6 months ago. Given that my grandmother was a democrat, I am sure both of these women are in Heaven smiling right now.

For another thing, I pray to God for Obama’s safety. God forbid…I do not even say, since it is unthinkable…it would rip this country apart for half of a century. Get this man double or triple the Secret Service protection, whatever it takes to keep him and his family safe. Our very survival as a nation could depend on this.

I am also thinking how much I love America. I am not bitter today. I am a republican, and republicans have won 7 of 10 Presidential elections prior to this one. We cannot win every single one of them.

I am grateful that we live in a land where the transition of power is peaceful.

I hope that Barack Obama has the decency and class to now recede into the background until January 20th, 2009. George W. Bush is still our President, and he deserves to finish his term with dignity.

The tone in Washington has been poisonous for the last 20 years. The way George W. Bush is treated in the next 10 weeks could impact how Barack Obama is treated over the next several years. For those who think that George W. Bush does not deserve an ounce of good will, just remember that Obama has promised unity.

I believe that Barack Obama is more interested in accomplishing things than in exacting revenge. After all, he has not been part of the acrimony. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were not part of it, and yet the hatred that has been going back and forth since Robert Bork was “Borked” by Ted Kennedy has not subsided.

Barack Obama keeps speaking of wanting to unite people, and a few kind words about our current President would be a well received olive branch.

Beyond that, I can only say that we live in a nation where a black man can become President. We will one day have a female President, a Jewish President, and perhaps even a black female Jewish President. Farfetched? Not in America.

Some will criticize the voters for making the wrong choice. I refuse to do this. As Karl Rove has said many times, “The masses are not @sses.”

The American people are the ones that won liberty from England, invented television, put a man on the moon, invented the internet, defeated Nazism and Communism, and found a way to balance deep religious convictions with a functioning secular democracy.

The American people chose Barack Obama. I disagree with the verdict, but respect the American people too much to question it.

I have spent years castigating the left for never giving George W. Bush a fair shot.

I will extend the courtesy to Barack Obama.

Most importantly, I will not despair over this election. I determine my own fate. My success is not defined by who wins elections. Rush Limbaugh has said that phrase, and even those who disagree with him should agree with this view.

I will go to work, love my family, be good to my friends, and continue to build a life with the love of my life.

On Sundays, I will watch football.

This campaign has been draining for me, and I am only a blogger. Like everybody else involved on any level with the campaign, I could use a break. There are other topics.

I will do what we should all do. I will live my life as best as I can.

Good luck Senator Obama.

Excuse me. Make that President Elect Obama.

You earned this, as well as the upgraded title you will get again in 10 weeks.

Use your future title wisely. America and the rest of the world depends on this.

I have more interest in this country now than in the past eight years.  I feel I now have a voice in the direction this country goes.  I am engaged in constructive participation.  Having my fate dictated to me by those who seek to crush my character into their own image has been excruciating.  The burden of living in the shadow of murmured threats, is growing lighter with each day following November 4, 2008.  I hope my expectations are realistic enough to accept that recovery will be slow and methodical. Replacing the mantra of exclusive privilege with inclusive consensus will be slow.  To bring the level of education in this country up to a level that can address America’s place in the Global Community, will be a daunting task.  Gathering the discipline to be responsible for our own actions, both social and economical, is a great personal test.  The mental and physical health of America is the priority, after we resolve the wars and conflicts that are dragging the us down.

My expectations are: return of accountability to the electorate, return of accountability to the taxpayer, return of accountability to those who sacrificed to create a country of dreams by defying elitist european monarchies to create a land of equal opportunity for all.

America must discard the P.T. Barnum world view, our foreign policy must accept and respect other countries right to self governance. American interests are tied to the health of those countries we trade with.  But, we must always address the horrors of genocide with intervention…  Genocide and tyranny can no longer be a spectator sport.  The words and actions of America must not contradict each other, anymore.

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I don’t really know what this is, but it is way cool, and how I feel.