Lessons from Obama's Historic Win

I watched the election results from New York City, our First30Days headquarters. Yes, I am excited, optimistic, hopeful, and just so incredibly proud of the man that will be our next President. I am proud for Barack Obama's courage, his decision to run and take on the most difficult job in the world. For being a role model, for being a leader when the world so desperately needs someone to go first, show us the way.

Barack has challenged our connotation and relationship to change. Most of us hate change, fear it, resist it and are overwhelmed by it. With sheer determination and a striking presidential campaign he has gotten millions of people now to embrace and expect it. Anyone who can do that has the potential for great leadership and can take people to places they used to fear.

In the wee hours after Obama's acceptance speech en route to a television interview (for French/Belgian TV seeking reaction from U.S. voters), I pondered whether Barack is a mix between the very best of Martin Luther King and Bill Clinton. I suppose time will support or challenge this assessment. My taxi driver (an African American) and I had an interesting chat while in transit. He was equally impressed with the accomplishment, but would have liked Barack Obama to acknowledge Hillary Clinton for all her work and trail blazing. He even offered up the idea that she should be Secretary of State.

Whomever you voted for, Barack showed us a few great lessons:

That the past does not equal the future. Despite the fact the country has been, and still faces very challenging times, that we lost the respect of so many countries around the world, it does not mean it's permanent. It's all too human to think that because something has been the status quo for 1, 4 or even 8 years, that means it's now what we should accept.

In victory he also showed the world that excuses are no longer acceptable, all those limiting reasons for what holds us back really do not hold much weight anymore. As he said in his speech, "All things are possible". For Anyone.

Change is the word of the year, if not the decade. What is happening here is not about bringing things back into a place of stability and calm-it's about getting this country good at dealing with uncertainty, getting people good at change. It's the number one skill to learn now, as a country, individually, as families, companies and for the world.

Change takes time. "The road ahead will be long. We may not get there in one year or one term," as he said at the beginning of his speech. We all overestimate how quickly we will see results--we will see them, I believe. And, we must give the president-elect and his administration time. And we must give ourselves time, with any change we are in the midst of or thinking about initiating.

Countries don't change, people change. Every single one of us needs to change now...This is not the time to sit back and become complacent or lazy because we have a new person driving the bus. It isn't just about Barack doing all the heavy lifting. Now is our time to look at a change we used to place a big excuse in the way of accomplishing.

We owe it to ourselves and to the country to take a stand for something that's important to us. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, both the candidates deserve our utmost respect for the work, the endurance, the energy, the commitment they put into their respective campaigns, for educating us about the issues, for inspiring us once again to care, to remind us that each vote matters. They didn't wake up and say, "I'm tired, I'm too old, I'm too young, I'm the only one going through this, I've never done this before, I've tried and it didn't work, people don't like me...."

Whatever those excuses are and have been, if someone like Barack can win this historic election, what is now possible for you? Yes you can.

 

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[theredfolder]

Following the election celebrations in Grant Park, Chicago, Mr Obama has received congratulatory calls from foreign leaders across the globe. Nevertheless, the buoyant mood has not stopped some premiers from expressing their demands to the President-elect.

On Wednesday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev made it clear that he would deploy Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania. The announcement comes in response to President George Bush's controversial plans to build a missile defense system in Poland. While many analysts have categorized Mr Medvedev's rhetoric as "tough-talk," it remains indicative of Russia's new swagger. Mr Obama will have to work with his counterparts in Europe (particularly NATO partners) to moderate rising tensions in former Soviet states.

Also on Wednesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on Mr Obama to end American airstrikes that have led to an alarming number of civilian casualties in his country. During the election, Mr Obama made Afghanistan the cornerstone of his foreign policy agenda. The President-elect believes, rightly, that the hyphenated conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan is the real war on terror and will ask Europe to increase its military presence in Afghanistan. Across the Atlantic, many leaders found it easy to turn down such requests from the unpopular Mr Bush. Now with the man they want in office, European allies will be forced to coöperate with the US.

Even with greater support from NATO members, however, Afghanistan is a frightening mess ... read the whole post at theredfold­er.blogspo­t.com