Despite my election day cynicism, I must admit that I found President Obama’s acceptance speech to be moving, honest and downright presidential. This is the first time in my adulthood I’ve believed that a top-level politician was telling the truth, or at least the truth as he sees it. Of course, watching a man through a television screen is no way to judge his character. So Obama still has to prove he can live up to all these hopeful feelings he’s generating, and sure, it’s very possible that he can. But he’s no Lincoln yet. Let us keep our eyes clear and let history decide what kind of pedestal to place him on.

In the meantime, for those of us who voted that way, don’t get smug. Half the country voted the other way, and their feelings are no less valid than ours were when Kerry lost. America is still evenly divided and until we learn to accept the existence of opposition and stop trying to stamp it out, nothing will be accomplished.