The Power of the People

This week the people of the United States elected a president who ran a campaign unlike any seen before. While his opponent ran a campaign based on fear, Barack Obama ran a campaign based on the ideas of inclusion, cooperation, communication and hope. He ran a campaign in which he made every American feel that they had a voice, then did everything he could to insure that every American expressed that voice by making sure they registered to vote.

Everywhere he went, 10s of thousands of people came to hear him speak, because he made them feel included and important. When he was elected many of these people cried tears of joy.

When he appeared in Chicago to address the huge crowd gathered there, he said:

"This is your victory."

Instead of bragging or thumping his chest, he said:

"Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same ... pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long."

To his opponents, he said:

"And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too."

And, to the American people, he said:

"But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you."

The President of the United States of America is often viewed as "the most powerful man in the free world." Everything he's done so far shows that president-elect Obama understands the responsibility that comes with so much power. He also knows the true source of his power: it is the power of the people. All people, not just his people.

Obama wants to make America a country others aspire to be, a place which is admired and respected, not a country which is feared and hated.

We can all learn a lesson from this.