An Appeal to Disappointed Republicans

 

 

Please don’t be discouraged. Your presidential candidate lost, but he gave a gracious and meaningful concession speech, saying he prays that the President will be successful in leading our country. He also rightfully stated that we shouldn’t engage in partisan bickering and that both sides need to reach across the aisle work together on behalf of the country.

For those of us who support President Obama, this is not a time to be smug or to brag. The election of a president is a time when we all need to put the hostility of the presidential campaign behind us and pull together for the good of the country – as many of us wish had happened four years ago.

It is time, for our country’s sake, to stop being Democrats and Republicans for a little while and just be Americans.

Since you voted for Mitt Romney, I expect you to disagree with some things that President Obama will do over the next four years. I expect you to criticize him at times and express your differing opinions on the issues.

But I am hoping for our country’s sake that you don’t engage in the kind of hateful vitriol that we saw during the past four years. You accomplish nothing by calling the president a Nazi, a communist, or a terrorist sympathizer. You will not benefit your country by contriving false accusations about his religion, his origin of birth or by making vulgar insults about his wife.

President Obama is not bragging about a mandate or about having political capital to spend. He is, once again, humbly asking Republicans to work with him to help the country move forward.

Now is the time when Democrats and Republicans need to compromise and work together to benefit the country, not stubbornly try to make the country fail so they can blame the other side in order to win the next election.

Republicans now have a choice. You can continue the obstructionism of the past few years and bring about the same political consequences you saw on Tuesday, or you can work together with President Obama in good faith to benefit the country.