Today Barrak Obama was elected president. Doris just remarked how you would have enjoyed this hour, you and Ben, Alvin, and Harrold. It's a breathtaking moment in history, a black man elected President of the United States. In a conversation several months ago, Kelly and I were talking about what it would mean if Obama was elected, and I said I would be so proud of America if America elected him President; for all Americans have gone through, for the terrible mistakes that we made, the violence we brought to Iraq and other lands outside our borders, it is an amazing, unprecedented statement. We have collectively, somehow elected one who truly embodies something that has always been present in America - a belief, a knowledge that by putting aside differences, our immediate self interest, by cooperating and committing to trust in the common good, we can make a better world and a better life. Bush failed utterly to express this latent spirit in America, instead channeling self interest, blind, stupid collaboration with predators and parasites feeding and operating behind the scenes in the shadow of power. For the blind faith of our leaders in economic competition and dominance and we have two wars and an economy that has been sacked and left in ruins by modern barbarians to show for it. And these dark years were your last, yet you were always optimistic, always emphasizing the positive, believing in a better day. Perhaps this little dark age is at an end. It's a fine moment dad, I wish you were here to share it.
