Feelin' Good

You can't govern the country based on a good feeling, but it sure feels good to win.

Senator John McCain gave a first class concession speech -- I was proud of him, and I think he has a future now that he no longers represents a party he never agreed with in the first place.

Obama's Election Night celebration in Grant Park had a special meaning for those of us who got their heads banged up forty years ago in the same spot. I had the good sense to stay away from that riot, based on long experience with the Chicago Police Department -- but some of my friends went down to that hot August Democratic convention demonstration figuring that they could hurl curse words at the cops without retaliation. They found out different. In Chicago, it's all about turf, and rarely about politics. But that was forty years ago, and a great curse has no been lifted from that site -- we have a new meaning and a new message.

All our good deeds have a basis in crime and sin -- this wonderful country, our powerful constitution -- founded in slavery and the taking of land from native people. We did not begin innocently, but it is our national determination to seek innocence and redemption. We do not live in a weary and cynical country.

I salute my African relatives. As many of you know, I was married to a Zimbabwean woman for seven years and spent one year in her country. I know they are thrilled by Obama's election. And now, in America, their names are become familiar -- Malaba, Mpofu, Mataka, and Sibanda -- commmon names in Africa, but now our President has a name more like theirs than mine. This is great happiness.

Obama gets a Frog Hospital honeymoon. That is, we support him 100% now and until 100 days after January 20. After that, everything that goes wrong will be his fault.

We're looking for changes of style. It won't be country and western music at the White House -- although Pres. Obama might continue to be political agile and play the music of Ray Charles, the great blues singer, who often sang country music too.

But I'm ready for some Count Basie.

Some folks won't be invited. Snoop Doggy Dog and his foul-mouthed rap singing brethren are not going to be sleeping over in the Lincoln Bedroom. They're going to have to clean up their act before the Obamas return their phone calls.

Yes, failure is the greatest teacher, but it feels good to win once in a while.