A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

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 here's Rahm Emanuel:

"I'll tell you this," Emanuel shouted out to his staff. "The Republicans may have the 72-hour program. But they have not seen the 22-month program!

"Since my kids are gone, I can say it: They can go ---- themselves!"

Yeah, there's some New Politics right there. Of course, it goes without saying that Barack Obama has the right to a chief of staff who will protect the new President's interests. But the deed of choosing Rahm Emanuel for chief of staff doesn't even remotely match the words spoken by Obama on Election Night.

Get used to that kind of discrepancy between words and deeds. No amount of oratorical eloquence can cover it up. Barack Obama is not the Messiah. Rather, he's just another politician.