Okay, then

Before I comment further, a few brief words of gratitude toward those without whom the outcome of this particular Presidential election would not have been possible:

First, to former Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald: If you sir had not wussed out and decided against seeking re-election, Barack Obama most likely would not have become the junior senator from my home state, and would most likely not be my President-elect. So thanks just a whole bunch for that.

Second, to the Republican primary voters who for reasons ranging from anti-Mormon bigotry to willful stupidity decided to stand behind Mike "let's put people with AIDS in concentration camps" Huckabee: Good work. Without you, John McCain, the unelectable scourge of his own party, never would have made it as far as he did. Thanks for giving John those few months of false hope, and the rest of us that persistent sinking feeling in our gut. We'll never forget you, and the way you denied the party nominiation to Mitt Romney, the only man who ever stood a ghost of a chance.

Okay, just needed to get that off my chest. Moving right along, the good and bad about this election (I already commented on the ugly):

The Good:

Our country did just elect its first black President. However you slice it, that is a historic achievement and should (but won't) shut the mouths of all the fools who said that America was too racist to do such a thing. I wish it hadn't been this man in particular (I seem to recall hearing something once about content of character mattering more than color of skin...), but America has done it. For better or for worse, Barack Obama is a living refutation of any idiot who says that my country is just a bunch of ignorant racists.

The next four years will provide me with an enormous opportunity to grow in my faith.

Taking a 93 year old woman who had just recovered from knee surgery to her polling place was the highlight of my day.

The Democrats were not able to gain a filibuster-proof majority. Although that may be a moot point. Remember how conservatives were all crowing about the "nuclear option" after the '04 election? The difference was, republicans were too wimpy to use it. Not so the democrats.

Exceptional voter turnout. The people turned out en masse to make their voices heard. That is a good thing. I don't like the choices they made, but they have spoken, this is how Democracy works, and we take the good with the bad.

An opportunity for conservatives to show their character. When conservatives' candidates lose an election, as many did yesterday, conservatives don't cry like girls, enroll in therapy, apologize to the world (which, considering that we're the only western nation in recent memory not to move to the right, might be tempting for some), scream about disenfranchisement, or talk about moving to Canada (which is one of the nations that just moved rightward). We get off our butts, dust ourselves off, and get back in the debate.

A clearer understanding of what it takes to win. McCain Feingold is a joke. Limiting yourself on campaign contributions is a joke. President Obama has clarified for the world the kind of money you need to raise in order to win an election (though unlike him, our guys should try to do it legally), and reminded us in Axelrod that a campaign needs a mastermind. McCain's campaign had no Karl Rove. No Lee Atwater. And he needed one big time.

The Bad:

Where to start. Massive numbers of ultra left wing judges, appointed to positions for life, who will by fiat overrule any state that attempts to define marriage as one man-one woman, or that attempts to restrict or ban abortion within its borders, who will allow for greater persecution of faith based organizations, who will continue to remove any mention of God from the public square in the misguided name of "separation of church and state,"; An Obama-Reid-Pelosi troika that will unleash draconian global warming legislation, tax increases, a renewed ban on offshore/ANWR drilling, and who will attempt to silence free speech via a re-introduction of the "fairness doctrine"; A President who is a friend to unrepentant terrorists and hate spewing "holy men," whose campaign has just committed massive donor fraud, who has said he will bankrupt the coal industry, "spread the wealth around," raise electric bills, and wouldn't mind $8.00 per gallon gasoline, who couldn't bring himself to defend babies that have survived botched abortions, and indeed, views such babies as "punishments."

Finally, in lieu of "the ugly," I give you "the depressing": The get out the vote effort for the Illinois Republican Party. What a sad, sad, unfunny joke. I'll comment on what I witnessed when volunteering yesterday in another post.