Editorial: Give him a chance

From the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette Journal:

"The election being done, the prize of the presidency is now in the grasp of Barack Obama. It may be hard to forget the ugly, ugly ads, emails and statements that preceded Tuesday’s voting, but for the sake of the country, it is imperative to do this. John McCain lost and conceded graciously. Obama won and claimed his landslide victory with respect for those who did not support him, and with an eye to the hard work ahead.

Given the nature of modern partisanship and the deep divisions apparent in the past three presidential elections, it may seem impossible to weld together one national interest again. But our times and the present degree of separation are nothing compared to some experienced in the past.

We have survived a Civil War; the nation will be observing this war’s 150th anniversary by the time Obama’s term is ending.

Forty years ago, the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War tore the national fabric much more deeply than any trumped-up "liberal" and "conservative" and "values" and "same-old" voting campaigns have ever managed to achieve. At the core, American people are decent and generous. They can be swayed by the politics of fear, but their innate optimism usually triumphs over the dark predictions that warn against this candidate, or that one.

Now Barack Obama has his chance to govern. We should vow to grant him an opportunity to introduce his propositions and work with the Congress without the usual sniping and slamming that permeate the airwaves. Give him a chance and let’s see what the new man can do."

The publisher of this paper is a gentleman named John Warren Cooke. He was my first publisher/editor when I started out in the newspaper business in 1978.

He has a remarkable family history: His father was Maj. Giles B. Cooke, who served on Gen. Robert E. Lee's staff during the Civil War. He was on Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg and at the surrender at Appomattox Court House. Maj. Cooke was 70 when John Warren was born and he lived another 20 years.

Mr. Cooke (John Warren) grew up hearing firsthand accounts of the great battles of the war that divided the country.

In the 50s, Mr. Cooke was an influential politician and was among the first to call for the reopening of Virginia's public schools after they were closed after Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

By my reckoning, he must be 92 or 93. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall on his office Wednesday when this editorial was written.