President-Elect Obama: We Share Lincoln's Values

Some commenters and bloggers living in Wah-Wah Land need some reminders. Here are some highlights from President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama's election night speech:

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

...So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let's 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 and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that 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 tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too [emphasis mine; President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama, election night speech in Grant Park, Chicago, 2008.11.04].

America needs solutions. President-Elect Obama has some, but he knows the best solutions will come from us. He's ready to listen and ready to work. Are you?

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p.s.: And don't forget: your next President has got game. See S.L. Price's Sports Illustrated account of a little one-on-one with Obama last December on the YMCA court in Spencer, Iowa.