Revdarth.com

What a wonderful night.  I know that the post on Barack Obama’s campaign website is thanking those who have voted for him, but I also have to say Thank You to President-Elect Obama.  Thank you for inspring me to volunteer, to give, to participate in this movement.  Thank you for lifting up the voices of those who have routinely been ignored or belittled in the world.  Thank you for setting up the course of a new direction in American politics.

After watching two wonderful speeches tonight from Sen McCain and President-Elect Obama, I am hopeful that we all can listen to the words from both sides of this campaign and unite and move forward together.  Both men spoke to a nation that is very divided and said that it was time for a new unity.

From Senator McCain

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

From President-Elect Obama

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.  Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity.  Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.  As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.”  And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And then these words…

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.  To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you.  To those who seek peace and security – we support you.  And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

Not from the might of our arms of the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals.  Yes we can.