A Victory for Humanity

This election says that America has begun to emerge from the fear and anxiety that claimed our souls after 9/11. It says America retains the capacity to grow beyond the odd combination of assertiveness and defensiveness of the outgoing administration.

And it says more. Even when you factor for the cyclical nature of politics, and for the particulars of this campaign, America has voted clearly to hand leadership to a new generation, and to a singularly gifted man of that generation. And even more. In electing Barack Obama America has signaled it is ready to see its troubled history on race in the very face of its president. That means a huge opportunity at touching and even reducing our deeper prejudices. That's a victory for humanity.

Obama's very person also says we are willing to be honest about our reality as a nation built of immigrants, a national community built on a covenant entered into rather than born into.

If these are the things this election says about us, then these are the things we are saying to the world. And everything I've read says the world, disheartened by these last eight years, was hoping for this change.

Our president-elect is also a man of faith. And he did the quintessentially American thing of choosing, as an adult, his expression of faith. We've distorted our view of America--and let the world see that distortion--by letting one expression (conservative bordering on fundamentalist) of one faith tradition (Christian) be the dominant and politically connected expression of American religion. Most American Christians are moderate, and a vital segment -- including Obama -- is progressive. Maybe we can let them be seen as a real part of the picture in this new day.

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William Tully

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A Victory for Humanity