PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA!

Photo: campaignwindow.com

Well, my apprehensions were misplaced! Senator Barack Obama won a convincing victory, with about 52% of the popular vote – the largest Democratic margin in a generation— and an Electoral College vote of at least 349, well above the required 270. With Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Virginia and even Indiana, he demonstrated a cross-party appeal he’ll need to govern in these difficult times. (North Carolina and Missouri were still in play as of this morning.) One commentator on CNN said that Obama has inherited the “in-box from Hell!”

President-Elect Barack Obama’s speech in Grant Park was somewhat subdued— perhaps in part because of the recent death of his grandmother just the day before the election— and more importantly because of the enormity of the task before him and us as a country. I believe that Senator Obama has already shown the steadiness and temperament needed for the job.

I recall how impressed my Dad was with President-Elect John F. Kennedy in 1960. Dad had not voted for him, but he was amazed that the morning after the election, Kennedy had the confidence and steadiness to shave himself with a straight razor.

The scene last night in Grant Park was so different from forty years ago at the Democratic National Convention in 1968. I had just returned from Latin America with the Yale Glee Club, and had dropped off my friend Mary Saxon at home and was invited in to talk to her parents, who were watching the riots in Chicago on TV. I ended up staying over an hour – transfixed and alarmed by the violence.

Senator John McCain delivered one of the best speeches of his life in the courtyard of the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix. He was gracious, eloquent and spoke from the heart. (Had he only conducted himself as well during the campaign.) McCain is a great American hero and his concession speech has restored and enhanced his reputation.

(Dennis and I were in the same courtyard three years ago last month. We were in Phoenix for the installation of our Bohemian friend Carl Noelke in the Roman Catholic Order of St. John of Jerusalem. We went to a marvelous party at the Biltmore after the church ceremony. This was the last trip Dennis and I took together before our final return to Venice in February 2006. I’m still sorry I convinced Dennis to take BART to the airport instead of being picked up by SuperShuttle. I hadn’t realized how near the end Dennis was. I thought it would be faster to take BART at rush hour, but it turned out there was construction on the line and we were delayed between stations for over 45 minutes and ended up missing the flight. Fortunately, we were able to take a later one that night, but the whole experience was a severe drain on Dennis. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time in Phoenix, and Dennis really liked the Biltmore.)