Now that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States, there are multifarious reactions to this reality. I want to look at some of these reactions.

Some Americans seriously believe that the election of Obama is one of the most infamous events in the history of our republic. To hear them opine, the day of Armageddon is at hand.

The other extreme consists of sincere people who naively assume that he will be able to solve our conspicuous economic problems immediately. It took years for our financial malaise to come to fruition. Therefore, it will take years to work through this recession.

I choose to sit back and give President-elect Obama the benefit of the doubt. In other words, I am willing to give him a chance and see what kind of president he will become.

Will he make mistakes? Of course he will. However, none of us knows for sure if he will do a credible job or make many serious errors of judgment. We just don’t know. I say give the man a chance.

Voting for a United States president is never done without some sense of ambiguity. In 1964 the American voters gave an overwhelming victory to Lyndon Johnson.

They feared that Senator Barry Goldwater was too conservative. No doubt, the senator from Arizona was more conservative than most Republicans at the time.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, he would have been a much better president than Johnson. Unfortunately, Johnson spent most of his time lying to us about the Vietnam War. His mishandling of that war guaranteed that his presidency would be one of mediocrity at best.

Another of my reactions to the Obama presidency is a sense of being thankful that we live in a country where voters can choose who their president will be. In most countries the people do not have the freedom to choose. Some dictator does it for them.

In 1964 I proudly voted for Goldwater. When some people advised me that I had lost my vote, I kept my sense of propriety. Yes, I definitely wanted my man to win. But I also thanked the good Lord that I lived in such a great country.

Some political pundits are now preaching the demise of the Republican Party. To hear them talk, the GOP has absolutely no future whatever.

I beg to differ with the prophets of doom. Republicans will regroup and live to fight again. They have many outstanding young governors who will give new life to the party.

After Watergate I heard people proclaim that Republicans were a dying species. Little did they know that a man like Ronald Reagan would come on the scene and give the party new life.

In conclusion, Republicans and Democrats can celebrate the fact that a young man born of modest means can grow up to be president of this great country. Those who say we are doomed by our racist past are wrong. In this country anyone can make it if he or she is willing to work hard.

Barack Obama is proof of that.