Gracious in Defeat and Humble in Victory

Now is the time for healing. Now is the time to de-emphasizing our divisions and focus on those things that unit us. Democrat or Republicans, we are Americans first.

I am certainly disappointed, but not surprised, by the result of this election. Now, the election is over. It is time to unite. I am going to remove the John McCain yard sign from my front yard and take the John McCain bumper sticker off my car.

I am not giving up my ideas. I am going to continue to be part of the party of the loyal opposition. I will continue to critique those policies and ideas that I think are wrong or misguided. I will continue to support Republican and conservative causes and work for future victories. However, I will try to disagree without being disagreeable. I will remind myself that liberals are not evil; they are just wrong. I am going to try to put the divisiveness of the election aside. I am not going to disagree just for the sake of partisanship. I will part of the opposition, but not the angry opposition.

I join John McCain in congratulating Barack Obama. We can only have one President at a time. Barack Obama is my President too. As much as I might have wished the result were different, I am not going to dwell on the loss.

I am accepting Mr. Obama at his word that he wants to get beyond partisanship and pettiness and do what is best for the nation. It is my hope that Obama governs as the centrist he has presented himself to be.

I pray that God gives Mr. Obama the wisdom and courage to guide our country through the difficult economic times and foreign challenges that confront us and to deal with the problems that we face. While I wish it were McCain taking the helm, I am nevertheless glad that the Bush era is coming to an end. I welcome a fresh start.

Watching McCain’s gracious concession speech tonight, I was reminded again of why I like John McCain so much. He is an honorable and good person. Watching Obama, I was impressed by his humbleness and his reaching out to those who did not support him.

After a hotly contested election, both Senator McCain and Senator Obama set the right tone. I congratulate and respect McCain for the way he handled his defeat and Obama for the way he handled his victory.

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