some things that i like

Since most of my friends' blogs are all-politics as of late, I am jumping on the bandwagon as well. I'll come out and say that I tend to vote Republican because in general Democrats scare me (think Hillary), but John McCain wasn't my first choice for President during the primaries and now that Barack Obama has won, well, we as a country need to make the best of it.

In an effort to be positive about the president-elect, I offer the following:

• I really like how Obama has scolded fathers in some of his speeches, calling them to action to lead and take care of their families. If Obama does nothing else for his country but convince black (and white) fathers and parents to better respect their responsibilities in raising the children they have created, then it will be a good thing.

• I appreciated, in Obama's acceptance speech, how he addressed those whose vote he did not earn that day. Those of us who were hoping (although I'll be honest, not expecting) the election to go a different way. He seemed genuinely humbled by his appointment and he wants to earn our trust and support. Humility is the first step, and I thank him for that.

• I was most impressed with something he said during the DNC... I didn't watch it, but I read his speech. He tends to put some issues into a light where, yeah, we can agree. He was talking about gay marriage, and he said though many of us differ on gay marriage (whether it should be legal), we can and should agree that if our gay and lesbian friends have a loved one in the hospital, they should be able to see them. And I thought, you're right. I may not want to call it marriage, because of how I feel about the sanctity of the institution of marriage, but I'm sure we can figure out something where a gay citizen can visit a loved one in the hospital (a right sometimes limited to family members or spouses only) or help a loved one deal with estate issues or whatever. I think we can all agree that creating a way, some way, where people can be happy with the life they've chosen is a good thing.

• I like that Joe Biden is from Delaware. I happen to have grown up a stone's throw from Delaware, and have many friends from Delaware. They are often greeted with either, "Delaware? I've never met anyone from Delaware before," or a version of the humorous ploy about Delaware from Wayne's World. So it's nice that the country finally sees that yes, people live in Delaware, and in fact, one of them is now the Vice President.

• I really think the guy who does Obama on Saturday Night Live does a great job, so four more years of that should be a real hoot.

That's all for now. Here we go America, four years of interesting stuff ahead of us.