Brian Pane

Wii Fit: Don’t forget to brush your teeth before you go to bed.

brianp: Why, thank you for the reminder, kind anthropomorphic plastic rectangle!  Of all my consumer electronics, you’re the only one who cares about my dental well-being.

Wii Fit: Looks like the Basic Balance Test isn’t your forte.

brianp: Point taken; I suppose I should play your balance games some more.  The ski slalom one is kind of fun.

Wii Fit: Do you find yourself tripping when you walk?

brianp: There’s no need to be a jerk about it.

Wii Fit: Create separation between your upper and lower body.

brianp: My upper and lower body are doing just fine in their current, connected arrangement, thank you very much.  Barring any sort of freak industrial accident, connected they shall remain.

Wii Fit: Please step off me.

I normally don’t get terribly excited about political campaigns, but Barack Obama’s election victory this evening brought a smile to my face.  While the President-elect faces a formidable economic challenge upon taking office, his victory seems like just cause for optimism.  The young contender, campaigning on a platform of change, triumphed over the respected political veteran.  The Democratic candidate won in states that had been Republican strongholds in the previous two elections.  And we got to witness history in the making as America elected its first black president.

After seeing the nation so polarized since 2004, it is refreshing to see the the Democratic ticket’s electoral victories spread across the country.

My parents, lifelong Republicans, were among the Floridians who voted for Obama.  Mom and Dad put an “Obama/Biden ‘08″ sign in their front yard a few weeks ago.  Every night before bed, they brought the sign inside because pro-Democrat signs tended to get stolen or vandalized in their right-leaning county.  In the corner of the country where I live, the left-leaning Pacific Northwest, newspapers reported on the woes of McCain/Palin supporters whose yard signs were stolen or vandalized.  Amid such pettiness, with people at both ends of the political spectrum seeking to just silence their opponents rather than engaging in any kind of dialogue, I was pleasantly surprised to see the winning candidate earn the popular and electoral vote in so many parts of the country: not just the West Coast and Northeast where his party was strong in recent years.

The euphoria of Obama’s victory will soon fade away into the harsh realities of economic turmoil, of course.  But the election results suggest that he has succeeded in finding common ground among a lot of people with diverse backgrounds and concerns, and that’s a very promising first step.