It is a big deal.

Like many of my like-minded friends, I was disappointed with the outcome of last November’s election. But that was so last year.

Like it or not, today is a huge day in American history for obvious reasons.

But racism is not over. The United States has not (perhaps) fully paid its debt for allowing slavery to ever come to our shores in the first place. Decades of discrimination and Jim Crow laws cannot be wiped away with a few pieces of well-crafted legislation. And electing our first African-American President will not completely wipe away the damage done. It is a start.

But today – and maybe just for today – millions of African-Americans can have hope again. The same kind of hope they felt in 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech.

None of us should take that hope away from those who have waited so long for this day to take place. I’m sure millions never dreamed this day could ever even happen.

Today is hugely symbolic. Tomorrow Pres. Barack Obama, our 44th President, must get down to the nitty gritty of figuring out how to restore confidence in our economy, how to continue to protect our people from terrorist attacks, and dive into the quagmire we call the Middle East – just to name a few priorities.

And when he does, it won’t matter anymore whether he is black or white or how unusual his last name may be. Will he make choices I don’t like or agree with? Sure, but so did our previous President and the one before him and the one …

I admonished a friend on Facebook yesterday for some disrespectful comments he made about the Inauguration. I was not trying to be holier-than-thou when I reminded him of the 2nd chapter of 1st Timothy. Ironically (or maybe by design), today I was reading in Acts 23, verse 5 where Paul said “Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people,” which has its origins in Exodus 22:28.

I won’t promise to pray for our President every day. Maybe I should. But I’m not faithful enough to always pray for everything important every single day.

But what I can commit to, is to not speak badly of him. I can criticize his decisions, disagree with his policies and even hope he is not re-elected in 2012, but bottom line, he is our President right now which makes him my President and therefore deserving of at least my respect and when possible, my prayers.

We will survive

I remember in 1992 when Clinton beat Bush 41 and the thinking was, "It's over." I'm not saying it was good but we muddled through Monica and a couple of "-gates".

It is not so apparent to everyone but the 1992 election also brought us the 1994 "Contract with America" which allowed the GOP to take control of the House and keep Clinton on the defensive for some time. It was far from perfect but it helped the GOP come together on a national level. Maybe after everybody licks there wounds ...

Now that it is over, (OK officially it isn't - the fat lady hasn't sung yet but she is in the wings and ready to come on stage) the GOP needs to takes lessons learned from watching Obama's success at getting out the vote, energizing people, getting them excited. When was the last time anyone was excited about a Republican nominee for President? Try 1988 and Ronald Reagan. Look back at the years, Bush, Dole, another Bush, then McCain. I'll give McCain lots of credit for a good game but nobody in that list was exciting.

We shouldn't elect a President based on that factor any more than we should based on how much money a candidate raises. But it is a modern fact-of-life that those things matter to some (OK lots of) people. The GOP needs to start grooming younger candidates, they need a farm club equivalent for young Republicans. Someplace they can go and learn the ropes, how to run campaigns, start to win state-level races and work their way up through the ranks.

Or maybe if enough young people have not found a home in the GOP, they will have enough critical mass to start an effective 3rd party. The mainstream media keep talking about the huge number of independents. I heard CNN use a figure as high as 30%. I don't believe that but I guess the number is growing.

A final thought. I won't be good at this but I shared with a group of friends on Monday that what we can do Wednesday morning is pray. The Bible says (first Timothy 2:2) to pray for our leaders (OK it really says "those in authority".) William Bennett said tonight on CNN that he would pray for Obama. If we believe what we say we believe, we should too.

I just went outside a little while ago to look at the stars - they are just really something in the cool fall night air, but while outside I did pray for Obama and confessed in my prayer that I would not do this well but I think it is what we are supposed to do. And when we consider the vastness of the stars, and who made them, our little troubles here on earth seem pretty tiny.