Everyone needs to take a deep breath

If you have read a few of my earlier posts, you probably know I am a fan of Obama and I am excited about the turnout of the election yesterday. BUT...I am worried about all of the incredibly negative messages I see on my friends' and family's facebook pages - people who are worried about the beginning of socialism and the end of America.

This is a difficult time for our country...we are losing jobs and homes and carefully invested retirements and college savings. There are people in this world that really do want to hurt us. And for a lot of people, Obama was an unknown and unwanted choice - not because he was Black- but because some of his polices and his rhetoric (and lets face it - a really good smear campaign trying to label him socialist/Marxist) made people nervous. I don't agree with these fears, but that doesn't mean they aren't legitimate. NOW - that does not mean they are entirely accurate - but it does mean that people are nervous and scared about the direction the country could go in and they don't trust Obama.

I'm sorry there is a lack of trust for him and I am sorry that there is so much animosity between conservatives and liberals - as a conservative liberal, I think Obama will turn out to be more centrist than people think, which is good for such a diverse country as ours. And he is no dove that will call the troops back from everywhere - I can only pray that he listens to the men on the ground in Iraq because we can't afford to lose the ground we have gained - we have a moral obligation and duty to leave that country better than when we first arrived. But you will see - liberals and conservatives - a stepped up program in Afghanistan...and some of you liberals will be pissed. But there, we also have an obligation to help...and we have a few people we need to find.

But the bigger thing right now - more than an historic election, more than worries about becoming Communist - is that we have major issues going on in this country that need attention and we need to come together and fix them. That means that even if we disagree about economics or social issues - we need to put those aside and remember that we all live here, together.

People will probably say - well, thats easy for you, your guy won. Honestly...honestly...if McCain had won, I would be saying the same thing. Granted, I would be all down in the mouth and sad right now, but I would suck it up...because my country is more than the issue of McCain or Obama, abortion, or the war in Iraq. However you voted on Tuesday - you voted for America...and we will be fine. That means liberals need to not be douches and gloat and call McCain supporters racist. And conservatives need to realize that some of the stuff said on the campaign trail about a turn towards socialism (and is this the 50's again all of a sudden? don't we remember the awfulness of McCarthyism?) are inaccurate and was done to scare you.

Everyone just needs to take a deep breath. We are going to be fine, but we all need to work together. I am no fan of Bush, but he's my president. And in January, Obama will be all of our president. This is democracy, this is what we stand for as a country.