Congrats, Mr. President-elect

SNOW, sole admitted conservative member of the WASHINGTON JUNTO (although others creep quietly under the floorboards as "moderates"), wishes Godspeed to Barack Obama in making good on his promises for unity.

Some offhand recommendations: Look past a slam-dunk left-slanted landscape in DC and remember that unity means more than a base and a Democratic mandate. Remember the 48% of peeps like me who wish you the best despite disagreeing with your ideology, and remember that the memories of the history made this night will not fade, but will doubtless give way to challenges that call for more than a mandate and historical license. They call for strong, principled judgment and extrapartisan dialogue.

To the media: drop the Palin attacks and undeniable partisanship and regain some semblance of the honor and responsibility that are implicit assumptions in stating that a free press is considered essential to our democracy.

To the Democrats: note the grace of a defeated and classy GOP candidate and the willingness of so many conservatives to now give a decent guy a chance to make good. On a side note, let me know when we figure out whether the hope and change mean more than the simple fact that President-elect Obama is not GWB. And may this catharsis rid you of some of your hatred of him.

To John Lewis, Keith Olberman, Rachel Maddow, and the rest of the race-baiters and across-the-board GOP haters: apologize to another decent guy-- the one who just bowed out-- and to those of us perfectly decent Americans who are offended at your group-branding of us as racist, backward people whose time has passed. We the 48% remain part of the victor's countrywide coalition, like it or not, so take a note from the victor's playbook and recognize that we're in this together and that name-calling is unwarranted.

To the equivalents of the above on the right: See the last sentence above and drop all mention of Wright, Pfleger, Ayres, Farrakhan, and the other unsavory characters, assuming they do their part and stay out of the way, and as long as our new leader is willing to make good on continuing to forsake any and all unseemly evil that's spewed forth from these folk.

To the conservatives of the almost-majority: always give a decent guy that chance. As I said, Godspeed, not ill wishes! Hopefully in 4 years we are all happy with the results and willing to consider this again.