Congratulations & Best Wishes

   Congratulations & Best Wishes
Congratulations and best wishes to President Barack Obama.  Your election is truly an historic event.  It is a great testament to our nation—a nation where equal opportunity under the law is not just a goal, but a proven reality.  You are now the leader of our nation and of the free world.  That means many things.

As Commander-in-Chief, you are to protect the security and sovereignty of our nation.  To the world, you are the keeper of the torch of freedom and opportunity.  As President, you set the standards for personal conduct and morality.

You are living proof of the fact that any American, regardless of race, ethnicity, or background, can go as far as their skills and God’s blessings take them.  You have a wife and two delightful children that project everything that is good about our nation.

And, yes, you enter the White House with many challenges—war, a tenuous economy, and a nation with distinct moral and political divisions.

Yet you have many outstanding role models within your own party, and from your adopted model, Abraham Lincoln.  Consider these sound principles from—

Thomas Jefferson, who would encourage you to be wary of big, expansive government, which is the greatest threat to individual freedom.  Surely Mr. Jefferson would be thrilled with your election, yet strongly caution you to suppress the human inclination to expand the control of government over the lives of our citizens.  Jefferson understood that in order to maintain individual freedom, government must stay out of the lives of its citizens, letting them succeed and fail on their own merit.

Andrew Jackson had great trust in the American people and provided a great, positive vision for the future.  He saw the United States as the greatest nation on the face of the earth and that vision propelled the nation to new heights.

Abraham Lincoln sought, as you do, to be the great unifier, yet he was reviled in his own time.  He had great patience and great perseverance and he had a strong reliance on God as he sought to bring equal opportunity to all Americans.  Like Jefferson, he understood that government can only work toward equal opportunity, not guarantee equal outcomes if its people are to remain free.

From Franklin Roosevelt, follow his example of being resolute in war with America’s enemies.  Don’t falter, or give in to any opposition to taking the war on terrorism to complete and clear victory.

Harry Truman loved the United States and always did what he thought to be right.  He accepted the fact that when it came to the Presidency, “the buck stops here.”  You can set the model for personal responsibility for all politicians and for all Americans.

John F. Kennedy knew that you can never create prosperity by taking money out of the hands of the American people.  His famous saying that “a rising tide lifts all boats” has proven to be one of the most accurate economic explanations of all times.  He might have said, “You can’t tax your way into prosperity.”  Fair and low taxes lead to economic success.  There is no other way and JFK knew that.

Finally, I want to commend you on not only having Pastor Rick Warren provide your invocation, but also urge you to bring Pastor Warren close to you.  Make him the “Billy Graham” of your White House.  Count on him to provide a moral compass in times of challenge.

I firmly believe that if you will follow the positive examples of the successful Democratic Presidents noted above and fix your moral compass, yours will be a successful administration.  I wish you God Speed.