Campaigns divide, and this one has been no exception. But if campaigns present choices, elections are the occasion for reunification. On Tuesday night, the struggle ended with a convincing victory that altered the contours of the electoral map and movingly reminded us of the greatness in our history.
With victories in Democratic strongholds and historic Republican redoubts -- Virginia, of all places -- Barack Obama can rightfully assert a national mandate, one he will need to confront the difficulties ahead. As our president, he must re-energize a troubled nation, reviled in much of the world, unsteady and anxious at home. The range of issues that demand the next administration's attention is almost limitless; the yearning of the country for thoughtful, conscientious leadership is nearly palpable.
Before the election gives way to the complexity of governing, however, we deserve to savor this moment. The same nation that within many of our lifetimes sanctioned Jim Crow has elected a black man to the presidency of the United States -- this, just 61 years after Jackie Robinson lifted a bat for the Brooklyn Dodgers, 54 years after Brown vs. Board of Education integrated the nation's schools, 45 years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the country's conscience from Washington's National Mall. Our history of racism is real and painful, and it is far from resolved. But our progress is equally undeniable. It stood before us Tuesday night. The satisfaction of Obama's victory resonates around the world, stirring emotions in Europe and Africa, in rich nations and poor, just as it stirs our national soul.
Obama will serve as president not of a race or a region but of a nation. He has demonstrated admirable gifts for leadership in his young life and in this long campaign. And as he assumes the office that the electorate has granted him, he has the opportunity to be the leader that our current president, too often, has not been. He must surmount the partisanship of the campaign, bridging the divides of party, as George W. Bush pledged to do but did not. He must repair the United States' international relations and renew our ties to the multilateral organizations that President Bush neglected. He must repair the damage inflicted by the so-called war on terror, which has alienated the United States from many friends. Closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be a welcome and symbolic start.
