A Victory Well Deserved for a Job Well Done

The grownups won on Election Day. Sanity prevailed. Logic ruled. For once, almost everything seemed to make sense.

President Obama's reelection, the Democratic victories in the Senate, the support for marriage equality and the outright rejection of misogynistic voices, made this a night to remember.

Despite four years of being denigrated, vilified and misrepresented by Republicans in the most crude and offensive manner, President Obama succeeded in making the case that he had indeed accomplished a great deal, in the face of unprecedented obstructionism. And his victory speech, with its eloquence, passion and lofty optimism, was perhaps the best he has ever delivered.

As our country moves forward, Republicans need to move in the same direction. The radical, Tea Party faction that hijacked the party was repudiated by the election results. The callous and out-of-step Republican positions on women's issues, gay rights and immigration cost them huge voting blocks that they will never win if the party continues to embrace extreme right wing ideology.

A Republican Party that goes back to its roots to embrace moderate voices is not just essential for the party's future success, but it is also vital if this country is to effectively tackle the very real issues of climate change, immigration, fairness and opportunity for the middle class, and much more.

President Obama's steady, principled and pragmatic leadership has taken the United States from dire straits to a place of renewed hope and possibility. Hopefully, the mean, personal vitriol from the right, and the impatience from some on the left, will give way to an America that, in the president's words, isn't a collection of red states and blue states, but the United States of America.

America works best when we all work together. And I feel very fortunate that President Obama will lead us in that group effort for the next four years.