Barack Obama: "Change" We'd Better Get Used To

Damn, I wasn't expecting a landslide by any means. My younger sister, a rapid Obama supporter from day one, was shocked too at the margin of victory. Bill Kristol said on FOX that "Republicans are irrelevant now." Last time I checked Obama had 349 electoral votes and 52% of the popular vote. Wow.

Ideology wise Barack Obama being president, for at least 4 years, is going to be hard for me. But as a black man I can't ignore the significance of Obama being President-Elect....I never thought I'd see it, frankly didn't think it was possible. People in my neighborhood (I live in a predominantly black & Hispanic section of Brooklyn) literally came out of their cribs and cheered in the streets for like half an hour. If most of them didn't have to go to work in the morning they probably would've stayed out longer. No matter what side of the political fence you're on, you can't deny that it means something that young black kids can finally look up and see a Black man as leader of our country.

Besides praying, what do you do if you're a conservative? Hold on to hope that Barack gets sensible and leads from the center as much as possible, thank goodness that the Dems didn't gain enough votes for a filibuster-proof Senate and even recall the utter failure that was the administration of Jimmy Carter, the last Democratic president to hold a majority in the House and Senate when elected and what led to.

As for John McCain, no doubt he garners plenty of blame from the Far Right on this historic loss, but I don't see why. McCain did just about everything right in his campaign. There was no better choice for VP than Sarah Palin. He took Barack to task on his associates and lack of experience. A bad economy, a media in the tank for his opponent and his age certainly didn't help matters, but I don't see what McCain could've done differently that would've changed the final results. Barack's team showed their fortitude against a favored Hillary throughout the primaries, his team just ran a better campaign. Indeed, as much as Karl Rove is deservedly credited with getting President Bush two terms, David Axelrod deserves major props here.

The GOP now needs to take a serious look at what's going on in the country, strategize, come up with a plan for that works for 2010 and '12 and continue to fight for their cause....now's not the time for divisiveness or pointing fingers, get it together people. Conservative Democrats need to step up and not allow Nancy & Harry to corner Barack and hold him hostage to their extreme Left agenda. Just because Obama will be the next president doesn't mean that conservatives stop fighting for what we believe in. Joe Biden said that if Barack wins he'll be tested early on, we need to make sure we're a part of that battle because like it or not "change" is here.