Well, Here We Go

Well, with the projection for California now in, it is all but confirmed that Barack Obama has been elected as our next president. The President-Elect deserves credit and congratulations for conducting an effective campaign that outran two powerful opponents, first Hillary Clinton, then John McCain. (No doubt, the recent financial crisis likely played a pivotal role.) BTW, John McCain just gave a supremely gracious and classy concession speech.

One positive thing that should come out of this is that the nation should move beyond the current state of lingering divisions related to race.

Beyond that, there is more of a mystery of which Barack Obama will show up in the Oval Office, the moderate sounding candidate of 'Hope' and 'Change' or the man with a radical background of associations and policy positions that continued to bubble up even over the past few days.

So how to approach a situation that is what it is? There is a need to separate a feisty opposition from the kind of personal vitriol that marked the reaction to President Bush by some on the left. However, there can be no withdrawal from the fight for our essential values: the protection of human life at all stages, the advancement of liberty and imposing limits on the encroach of government power on free people. Let's pray and work like we've never done before.