By J. Burrows

We here at Momspective would like to offer our condolences to the Crichton family.  Michael Chrichton died unexpectedly last night after a privately battling cancer.

As some of you may know, yesterday was election day. The junior senator from Illinois won the election and will become the 44th president of the United States. Barack Obama’s ascent has been meteoric, fantastic, and all encompassing. Although he is a man of color, he is not a black candidate like those who have gone before him. He has called out the black man along with the white man to step up and raise his children. After his own father left him, his voice speaks volumes.

The air yesterday was palpably energetic. You could feel the drama in the air and you could feel the excitement. My state, New York , went decisively for Obama, so we were spared the back to back political commercials that dotted the airwaves in some battleground states. And, while the overwhelming mantra was “yes, we can,” There was an underlying murmur of “Not again.”

Twice in the last 8 years it seemed as if we were on the cusp of something new, something bold and something fresh, only to have it snatched away at the last minute, first in Florida, and then in Ohio. Obama had a different strategy for this election. Shaped by Howard Dean, the head of the Democratic Party, they said: All states are in play. And they were. Traditional Republican strongholds were closer than ever, and virtually every toss up state voted democrat.

It seems to me that a lot of people, most of them old, feared Obama. I don’t know if it was because of his name, his appearance, or his policies, but it makes no sense. The Republican party has shunned the young, the educated, and both the lower and middle class. When my grandma fears for the future of out country because of Obama, and who may be influencing him, I have to wonder: How could the last 8 years have gone any worse? We could have had more attacks in our country, on our soil, and we are all thankful that that hasn’t happened, but that is the only remotely positive thing that has happened. We are at a low point of world respect, and worse than that, our foreign policy acts as if the rest of the world’s opinion of us does not matter. We can not ask the world to show us respect while we show them none. We can not act with impunity and immunity and ask those we fear to be level headed in their decision making. I believe with our new president we are on the way to turning this ignorant foreign policy trend around, and are poised to retake our seat as the moral leader of the world.

I can’t help but wonder how things could have been different. McCain sealed his fate, and acknowledged as much last night, saying the failure was his, and not those who have supported him. When he appointed Sarah Palin as his vice-president, it was done. If he had named Mitt Romney, I may have voted for him, and although I still believe Obama would have won, it would have been much closer. But, McCain felt that this was the move that was needed to shake things up, and shake things up he did.

With this reckless, irresponsible decision, the dye was cast, and when Ms Palin sat down with Ms Couric, the election was lost. We have had 8 years of a leader who can not formulate a sentence, or conjugate a verb. With this pick, a woman who has not had a child graduate from high school (family values?), and who cared more about “Joe six-pack” than Joe College , it was lost. That this woman still has a political career is amazing, and that she has supporters speaks volumes about the state of our country and it’s education system.

While Obama will not be a miracle worker, he will move things in the right direction. Our constitution and system of government ensures stability and makes sure that nothing drastic happens quickly. That means drastically bad, or drastically good. Our system of checks and balances (and lately earmarks) makes sure that nothing happens quickly, and that any good deed will be bogged down with garbage and gifts to certain people for their support of the bill. Washington is still a mess, and the money runs it. This will not change overnight, but a lot did change last night. I dare say that it has been decades since the world changed as much in any night as it did last night.

Time will tell.

What do you think?