Adios Bradley

As the presidential campaign drew to a close my anxiety reached absurd levels. Although I recognized the futility of such angst I was powerless to stop it. I couldn't bring myself to write a post here either. It was as if I was certain that voicing my fears would make them real. I might have single handedly caused the much debated Bradley Effect to manifest.

It didn't help that over the last two weeks of the campaign Senator McCain inundated the Missouri airwaves with negative ads. On radio and television Joe the Plumber lamented Barack's plan to "punish his success" while the RNC ran ads warning that anyone making over $42,000 per year would face a sinister Obama tax increase. Worse, the attack WORKED. During the the ten days preceding the election Missouri turned from leaning blue to leaning red. A campaign of lies was reaching sympathetic ears. I was terrified. I wanted Barack to counter punch, to refute the lies to do SOMETHING. What I didn't know was that his campaign remained on track in the other battleground states, that his message had reached sympathetic ears, that he and his team knew he was winning.

And what a victory it was. For the third time this year I found myself standing in my living room listening to Barack speak. His ability to inspire forces me off the couch. Like so many Americans, tears filled my eyes as I watched the images of my fellow citizens celebrating, crying and laughing. Joy mixed with a smidge of disbelief filled our hearts. Somehow it was over, the Bush years really would come to an end.

And what of the Bradey Effect? Let there be no question that racism is alive and well in America, albeit in lesser form. A quick search of Youtube for a McCain or Palin rally will yield video footage of the worst of America, queued up, filled with hatred as they wait to see their candidates. Candidates that, incredibly, CHOSE to stoke the flames of the racist fire during the end game of their campaign. Candidates who, once again, played a game of division, hoping to turn us against each other. Thankfully, a majority of us were awake, were listening, were thinking, and cried out with our candidate: ENOUGH! And so, there was no Bradley Effect to be found; the final 7% margin of victory matched the Realclearpolitics average of the polls. Is it better that the residual racism in our country is now overt rather than covert? I don't know.

I do know that we need Senator McCain to go beyond his gracious concession speech and work to calm the hatred that his capaign provoked, and soon.

As we wait impatiently for new leadership in this country, the world waits with us. The outcry of support from our global brethren was heartwarming. It seems we haven't wasted all of our global political capital after all. Thank God. Tired of Bush bullying, the world waited and hoped for us to regain our sense of self. The world wants us to be who we say we are. They want us to live up to the idea of America, and to enact the many ideals that comprise our identity. Our brothers and sisters cry out for a true leader, just as we do. And God willing, we've got one.

The first days of Barack's stint as President-Elect yielded good signs. While Bush sat on his hands in the oval office Barack assembled a team of the country's best financial minds and began working on strategies to address our financial crisis. He called world leaders and talked to them about that same crisis. It appears he will govern in an inclusive, intelligent fashion. How long has it been since we've seen such a thing?

Of course the far right remains in a constant state of outrage. Rather than looking inward in self assessment they explode with anger. The coming months will provide insight into the direction that the Republican party will follow. I would suggest that they adopt the Libertarian Party, discard their "social conservative" wing and attempt to form a coherent center-based conservative platform. But where's the fun in that?

Finally, it seems the audacity of hope continues to live on post election. A close friend of mine had not been reached by Barack's message and didn't support either candidate for President. As he watched Barack assemble his financial dream team and give his first press conference, my friend grasped the dramatic improvement in leadership that we are seeing - even at this early stage. And hope began to creep in. "If he can be as good as he looks . . ." there was no need to complete the thought. For if President Obama really is that good then we may begin to live up to our own standards.

The audacity of hope indeed.