After being deeply disappointed by John the Toast McCain decision to select Palin and by their divisive campaign in which they followed Hillary's steps no less than they followed Rove's, and after alarming weeks in which the polls were too close to call and those that were not were discounted for a feared Bradley effect - after all these America proved that despite all the ugliness, negativity, and pushing the bar to the lowest common denominator, the positive forces of the new generation overcame it all with a historic decision that outshines every dark spot in our history. Perhaps America's common denominator is not that low after all.
In a short while the next African American President will be sworn on the steps of our national capital that was build by the blood and sweat of slaves. By the virtue of his election President elect Obama absolves the conscious of white America and unshackles the spiritual bondage of black America. Barack had moved the flagpole high and proclaimed to everyone, no matter where they came from, that they can. His call for personal responsibility and family values merged with the promise that everyone can succeed, tells all the weak and disenfranchised that change starts from the bottom, one must take responsibility into their own hands, not blaming anyone else.
It is not much different than Theodor Herzl's 18th century Zionist call "If you will it, it is no dream", which parallels Obama's "Yes you can". This phrase of hope moved Jews out of the bondage of a 2000 years diaspora among hostile gentiles and ended with the creation of the state of Israel. Once Jews realized that they have a responsibility to take matters into their own hands, the message of hope was stronger than the religious belief to wait for the messiah to bring them back to the promised land. In our times, Obama's personal responsibility, bottom-up change and hope combine to close the door on the mental shackles of slavery and finally liberate black America.
Obama who is familiar with the divisive militant spirit of the black Louis Farrakhan as well as the divisive militant white William Aires decided to take an entirely different approach and break from the past by conducting a decisively different type of campaign. He moved away from a militant spirited campaign, from taking advantage of old grievances, from leveraging vengeance, and from the mud slinging that tainted American Presidential politics right from the moment John Adams ran for office. This fresh air approach breaks yet another shackle of the past.
With hopes and expectations set so high, instinct and history warn us that the disappointment might loom larger. Yet the current economic crisis and the upcoming exacerbated recession courtesy of expected miserable holiday sales will give Obama an unprecedented opportunity to succeed. The mere aversion of an economic downfall and return to a stable economy would be considered success. By all signs Obama intends to do much more. For the sake of the US and the world, let's hope he succeeds.