So yes, Obama won. I was on a huge high yesterday. I, among so many Americans out there, was desperate for change, and I was also cynical that this change was going to come. Hopeful, but cynical. This is the first time in my voting history that I am actually excited for a presidential candidate, and I am excited that he got elected. In fact, he won by a landslide. A landslide, people!! It wasn’t even “close.” It wasn’t as close as the last two elections, which were stolen by the Republican right-wing. This one was won fair and square, and I couldn’t be more proud.

I was one of those people who threatened to move to Canada after Bush got elected the last time around. I am one of them who actually made the move. Yesterday not only marked the official day of this election, it also marked the official day I made my move legal. I’m officially a Canadian resident. I still have the right to vote in the U.S., and I vote I did. But, as I took seriously what so many hateful Americans told me to do four years ago when I complained about Bush being in office for another 4 years, I simply “left.” However, from a distance, I am still promoting change in America, and I couldn’t be more proud.

The last eight years confirmed my final progression to Canada. It also confirmed, without a shadow of a doubt, that Dave and I would be bringing our children into this world on Canadian soil instead of U.S. soil. The last eight years changed me a lot. It changed the way I identified myself and it changed the way I looked at America. Now, hopefully, the next four years and so forth will help mend this view.

Since Obama’s victory, I have seen and read and heard a lot of weird things from the right-wingers and those who voted for McCain. While I can’t understand (and probably never will, no matter how hard I may try) their reason to vote for McCain, I respect their votes nonetheless. What remains strange, though, is the reasoning some of them give for voting for McCain. I hear that Obama only won because he is “black.”

Seriously? We’re pulling the race card? While watching McCain’s defeat speech last night, the camera showed two people in his fan audience who appeared to be a father-and-son team of skinheads. The father was pissed off, and he was holding his toddler son in his arms. Of course, I cannot confirm that these two were in fact skinheads and rioting for hate crimes against ethnic minorities. However, the thought of this scares me. Having an African American for president is a big deal because I didn’t think we were ready to have anyone other than an old white dude. In all our progression, we haven’t progressed that far yet. But, as important as it is, it is not as important as his policies, and I respect this man and his policies way more than I respect the color of his skin. After all, he is just as “white” as he is “black,” having his mother being white and his father being black. So no, race is not an issue in this election for me. It is an issue in America because we’re still much more backwards than we would like to believe. I mean, 45 years ago, black people couldn’t even vote, and now we have a black president. Of course it is important. But more than anything else, he is a genuine man, a man of the people, a man who remembers that just because you’re “rich” doesn’t mean the poor deserves to be poor.

And then there are the others who say that “non-Christian values” got elected into office this term. First feeling: anger. Second feeling: “What the HELL does that mean??” At the risk of getting too political, really, people, explain this to me. Other than the fact that I am not a Christian, I would have thought that I too have “Christian values,” except well, I call them simply “morals.” What are these “Christian” values that Christians have that I don’t? I don’t get it.

Thou art not kill?
Thou art not commit adultery?
Thou art not be stupid and hurt other people?
Thou art be kind to thy neighbor?
Thou art help people as much as thou can?

I think I am a good person, with good values, with good morals. The fact that I am not religious doesn’t take away this fact at all, in my belief. These “Christian” values normal people call simply “morals.” I do not need the fear of God in me to lead me to be a good person, with good morals and values, albeit Christian or Olympian or Buddhist.

But if you will, please explain to me what these “Christian values” are that I may be lacking merely because I’m not a Christian. I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m ignorant or something?

And correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Obama announce that he IS a religious man, that he does believe in God and that he is a Christian? How, then, are Christian values not elected in this time? Is it because he’s a Democrat? Or left-wing? Or that he helps the poor and believes in small business? Or that he has “socialist values,” heaven forbid? That he wants to help everyone and not just people who are willing to be capitalists? What is it about these these “Christian values” that are so sought after?

Thirdly, wait a minute, isn’t there a specific thing in the American legislation that states “separation of church and state”? If so, what does it matter that the president is religious or not? Christian or Muslim? Atheist, even? *gasp*

Fourth, seeing as how Bush was such a “Christian” man and what a crappy job he did in 8 years (count the innocent civilian lives he helped murder in the Middle East, the thousands of American soldiers who were killed by enemy AND friendly fire, the vast economic deficit accumulated over the last 8 years, and the list goes on), isn’t it time for a change, then? Isn’t it safe to say, by logical deduction, that perhaps we don’t need more “Christian values” in the White House?

I am set to remember over the next four years that it will take longer than four years to fix all the crap that Bush did to this country. The separation, the polarization, the enemies we’ve made overseas, the terrorists we helped create, the wars we’ve created, the laws that have vastly excluded the down trodden (but hey, they don’t deserve any of our love or sympathy because they’re all a bunch of lazy Democrats who want free handouts anyway!), etc. etc. Here’s hoping Obama can make even a slither of change that we need. And perhaps we can vote him in for another round of change.