Whoever is elected

Law Professor Glenn Reynolds (The Instapundit) has an Opinion Piece in today's Forbes.com, in which he opines that whatever the result of the election, we all need to recognize that the winner is our President. "Whoever Wins, Chill A Bit" is, IMHO, a well written piece that talks about how we need to respect our friends and associates who sincerely believe the other guy was the person to vote for.

The Instapundit's last paragraph nicely sums it up.

We don't have to agree on issues, or on leaders. But if we can't agree that a free and fair election can produce a legitimate president even when it's not the candidate we like, then we've got a very serious problem.

If my side loses, it will be a spur to me to get out and do more. Each side must win on the strength of its arguments, in whatever environment may exist, including an environment of media bias. The environment is a fact, but it is not an excuse. Fish shouldn't blame the water and birds shouldn't blame the air and we should not blame the political environment within which we operate. We can, of course, blame ourselves for not being smarter or more effective.

I am not against a little humor in looking at the outcome. I thought writer Roger Simon's Blog post, "If McCain loses, I’m moving to France" was very funny.

France is more conservative and they’ve got better food. And isn’t that the grand tradition of Hollywood sore losers? Your man fails and you’re outta here. Just think - maybe I’ll meet Susan Sarandon. She’s supposed to be there, isn’t she? Or did she finally stay in Beverly Hills? Well, I won’t. It’s Bordeaux for me. I hear the red wine cancels out the cholesterol in the foie gras. What could be better?

But, even better was Comment 61 to Roger Simon's post:

ElMondo:
Of course I understand that all this talk of leaving the country is a joke at previous crying celebrities responses. But in spite of that, the sentiment has an undertone that’s mildly worrying. So to speak towards that, this Asian Catholic proffers a phrase from Jewish wisdom that seems particularly applicable here:

“gam zeh yaavor”… “This, too, shall pass”

No need to leave the country. It’s a big, strong, vital one, despite the economic downturn and recent cynicism. The fundamentals of what makes America strong haven’t changed; it’s just that those fundamentals reputation has taken a bruising, slightly deserved, but not totally so. Anyway, I believe it’ll take more than a bad president to really screw up this country. I may not like the direction it would head in for 4 years of an Obama presidency, but even he couldn’t undermine the heart and soul of what makes this country great.

I guess you have to be an immigrant to appreciate what a truly screwed up government is. Trust me, despite my distaste for an Obama administration, it won’t be anything remotely resembling a genuinely broken government. It’ll just have the potential to be a bad one. And who knows? Sometimes when put to the test, people rise above themselves.

Call me Pollyannaish, but it’ll take more than Obama/Biden to screw this nation up.

All that said, I am still pulling for Senator McCain and Governor Palin.

Regards -- Cliff