411. Still on Cloud Nine

America, America, God shed his grace on thee.

God was good to America and the world last Tuesday. He gave us good weather to go vote in, a good man for whom to cast the vote, the good sense to cast it the right way, and finally, a good feeling about being an American again, something many of us have not felt since the installation of George W. Bush as president in January 2001.

I am still having difficulty speaking about the race to friends without calling up tears of joy, choked-up words, and an internal feeling that, for the moment, all is right with the world. Is is possible for a single day's election to conjure up such emotions? The answer of course is emphatically Yes.

As President Kennedy described in his Inaugural Address nearly forty-eight years ago, "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans . . . . . unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world." The last eight years did see an unraveling of the human rights advances made both before and after Kennedy. They continue today under the mockery of a War of Terror, one we have been waging since September 11, 2001. They continue under the Executive Orders which have issued forth from the president's office, but only after proper vetting from the vice president.

All that will, hopefully, begin to change come January 20, 2009, the day President-elect Obama gets to drop the present "-elect" from his title. That's about 70 or so days from now. Leading up to the election, and for some dating back to November 2000 or November 2004, people have been keeping track of time by a reverse calendar which had been counting down the days of the GWB presidency. However, since Tuesday's election, that negative way of reading the calendar has been changed. Now, for most of us, the target date is no longer the day Bush leaves, but more importantly, the day Obama takes to the platform and repeats the Constitutionally mandated Oath of Office of the President of the United States, found in Article II, Section 1, Article 8 -

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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.

Hope and help are on the way. As for me, I am still on Cloud Nine.
Thanks be to God.