Respect the Process

E-mail congrats from a well-placed Republican friend today. As I told him, on one level I'm happy that we won, but on another level I derive no particular pleasure from it. The "enemy" are really my friends, of course, and I know how very tough it must be for them. I know now how gruelling an experience it can be to run a modern campaign.

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Beyond that, we are still a nation that is very much divided. We still must struggle with the war in Iraq, inadequate health care that kills 50 Americans a day, environmental issues that could cause permanent climate change, and a global economy that threatens to torpedo American economic health.

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We have also just witnessed the most negative campaign in American history. Our collective psyche, battered though it already is, has been further damaged. Where will it all end? Only when we learn to respect the process, and sadly it doesn't appear as though that will happen any time soon.