An Interesting Time

What ever happens tomorrow this has been a very interesting time for us in American politics and history. We nominated a mixed race African American for the presidency on one ticket, and placed a woman on the ticket of the other party.
We have seen registrations and voter turnout at unprecedented levels. We have also seen some disappointing behavior and some parochialism. This is the first election my son will be able to participate in. It has been an interesting experience talking with him and his friends about what the issues are that resonate with them and why they support one candidate or the other.
The "passion" or vehemence I have seen in this election has been something to behold as well. I am not a big fan of personal attacks from either party. I am not a fan of labeling either. Labeling to me is when you ascribe pretty negative motives to someone for a view point that is different than your own- whether that is sexism or racism or whatever.

If we take a look at other dynamics going on in the world we know that whoever is elected they come in to the role with a lot of issues facing them. The volatility of the U.S economic picture and in reality the world economy, the fear and anxiety that people have about leadership in general, the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a bunch of others.
I hope they recognize that neither candidate or party has a clear "mandate". The polarity of the election means a lot of bridge building and attempting to reach out to your soon to be former opponent.

I think that the style of the candidates from how they ran their campaigns, to how they made the selections of their running mate was also an interesting exercise in leadership and communications.

I don't know about you, but personally I am ready for the campaigns to be over and for us to begin to move forward. I hope that we have learned something over the past few years and we are willing to move forward with creating a new model for this time and age, regardless of the outcome tomorrow.