Purple Reign

Last night, Barack Hussein Obama earned enough votes to be elected our 44th President of the United States. His victory, and the number of white votes that secured it, is one of the proudest moments I’ve experienced in my half-century as an American. However, with the amount of hate I’ve read in the blogosphere since, I have no illusions that our nation will now enjoy some unified renaissance, but now we have some hope that we can. Yes, we can.

Many of President-Elect Obama’s critics cited “inexperience” as a primary reason to oppose his candidacy, but if leadership, proper judgment, and the ability to strategize and execute are job requirements, doesn’t his historic campaign and victory repeal that rationale?

Whether you voted for Barack Obama, John McCain or wrote in Ron Paul, a brilliant chapter in American history was started last night, and a page was turned on a “conservative” movement that lost its way under George W. Bush. For a movement launched with a “less government” mantra, the Bush years have crumbled that pillar and more than doubled our national debt to nearly $11T dollars in 8 years of record oil profits, war profits and healthcare profits pushing care further from the reach of too many Americans.

The challenges facing our country are epic, but with the spirit and energy I saw all across half our country last night, I am confident we can overcome. The biggest challenge however, isn’t Iraq, or terrorism, or energy or even the financial crisis. The challenge for Barack Obama is to overcome the color barriers that hold us back. Those colors aren’t black and white; they’re red and blue, and unless Barack Obama can skillfully blend them on our American palette, the hope for a better America and a better world will have been nothing more than a passing dream.

My hope is that reaching across the aisle for some brilliant American Red begins today.