Wow, here we go again, if anything I'm happier than the first time Obama won. The first time a lot of things came into play and you never really know how it will unfold. Four years later I've had some complaints, coulda woulda shoulda, but overall I respect our president as I don't recall doing in my lifetime. Clinton's flaws eroded respect. Maybe Carter but he never really seemed to get it. He came into office with his campaign staff who are not always the best choice. I've worked on campaigns and then segued into government and it's entirely different skill sets. Washington is not kind to outsiders. But this time Obama is not an outsider. He's a quick study - he's had to be. His mother shipped him all over the place at an early age; like military children you learn to fit in quickly. Add to that his dark skin in a white family and it was clear from a distance he was different. Happily for him they seemed to love him deeply and forged in him a need to work hard and be ethical but somewhere inside he also had an enormous ability to push on. Most of us can only dream of that inner strength. He's right about lucking into Michelle. If anything her family life was an even more solid American dream, her father struggling daily to provide for his family and her intelligence and drive to pursue high goals. Both would be a success story without the presidency but they reached higher and made history.

Is he doing everything right? Well, no, if only because everyone has a different definition of what and how they want things done. Health care reform should be a no-brainer, don't we want equal care for all our children? From the verbal blasting it took apparently not. Wall Street, we're all angry there but if something's changed I can't see it. 

I would like to digress into another win - Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts. The funniest thing I read was someone who said I'll bet those Republican senators are sorry they didn't vote to confirm her for the Consumer Protection Agency. She is an Obama win, he brought her into his administration and let her set up the agency. I'm already eyeing her for 2016 although many hope it's finally Hillary's turn. Here's a warning to Republicans - continue thwarting Obama just to be ornery as you have been and I can promise you another Democrat will win the White House. Because revenge and being a bad loser keeps the party from forming ideas that matter. Many voters didn't tune in until late and missed a lot of the silliness but what they saw was basically an empty suit trying to stay relevant. For all the disappointment with Obama it was also clear he gave his best and it was clear he really wanted to do well by the American people. The countering Republican argument that we'll trash him and the economy so vote for us isn't a great bumper sticker. Yet voters stopped short of making Congress all one party - that can bring whiplash change. Working together and compromise works best when intelligent people do their jobs well. (There must be a few left out of the 500.)

So here we are again, not the blissful highs of a wedding night but four years later, a couple of whiny toddlers and no sleep to show for it but nonetheless a family starting a real journey. We're grownups now and that's a good thing. 

And BTW, I love Joe Biden so quit picking on him. To criticize his smiling during a debate when Paul Ryan looks like the son of Mortimer Snerd and Howdy Doody is ridiculous.

This is a perfect a moment as our country has had maybe ever. Full of possibilities. And it's up to us to see that they are realized. I am in awe of those who stood in line for hours to vote but as the president said, we have to fix that - it may be noble but it's not fun, it's voter suppression. 

These are my thoughts the morning after. Prayers to all those in New Jersey and elsewhere who lost so much and are suffering. It's the government AND business AND individuals that will work to make it right and that's how it should be.