Thought of the Day 11.07.08

Days after the election of Barack Obama, many people are elated while others are depressed. I think that both sides are spectacularly misguided in their thinking.

I’ve known a lot of couples before they were married. When given the chance, I’ve tried to be honest with the fiancées about concerns, particularly if I thought they would actually listen. But I have always had a simple policy after a wedding: I support the marriage. No matter how opposed I was to the decision, it’s been made, and my only task afterward is to help the couple make it work. Anything else would be petty, immoral, and selfish.

What both sides in this election miss is that the victory belongs not to the winning candidate but to the entire country for having this process in the first place. We should celebrate a finished election, just as we should celebrate a finished marriage.

Whether he was our guy before, the President-elect is our guy now. And our job is the same as it always is: to make this country flourish under it’s legitimately elected leadership.