UPDATE:  I almost wish I could delete this review, even though it expresses my true feelings about the campaign the GOP ran (note: I submitted this before the election, but RIA just approved it today, which is the day after the election).

Now that Obama has become our President-elect, I join in his hope that we can mend our partisan differences and get a fresh start by joining together in a united effort to begin solving the very serious problems our country faces. The bitter partisanship has become so divisive over the years that it has hurt all of us in varying ways. It's time to start thinking of ourselves first and foremost as Americans rather than Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, always at each other's throats. That's the patriotic thing to do.

We have worse enemies than our fellow citizens. There's a lot of bitterness and anger with each other to get past, but with some time, effort, and, most importantly, intention, we can overcome our differences and unite as Americans. That's the opportunity that we now have. Forgiveness is a great healer of wounds.

McCain has, as Obama stated, served his country well in ways that most of us can't even begin to really identify with. Let's let it go. Let's get over each other.

Note: Just received word from a friend in Switzerland re straw polls they've run in Europe. 89% of the Swiss would have voted for Obama, and 75% of all of Europe. So Europe is hoping this signals an opportunity to strengthen our alliances with them again.

ORIGINAL COMMENT: The McCain campaign has focused primarily on an attempt at character assassination of Obama, in my view because they sense it's their only chance to dissuade voters from voting for Obama because they don't stand a chance by talking about the important issues. Much of that McCain tactic has been intended to ascribe guilt by association, that Obama associated with Ayers, Khalidi, Wright, etc.

The important question is not whether and to what extent Obama associated with people of questionable character. The important question is "so what?" Does the fact that Obama knew and sometimes worked with Ayers, for example, imply that Obama shares or sympathizes with the terrorist beliefs Ayers had back in the '60s?"

If you have 100 friends and 3 of them have radical beliefs, is it fair for me to infer that you share their radical beliefs? What if I asked you if you shared their beliefs and you said no, and I had no evidence to the contrary? Would it be legitimate for me to go around telling everyone that you have radical beliefs? Or would that be dishonest?

I have relatives and friends who are conservatives. If I spend considerable time with them, as I do, is it legitimate to infer that I'm also a conservative? Obviously not, if you're familiar with my political stances from what I've written on RIA.

See, that's the problem with this guilt by association stuff. It depends on unwarranted, illogical assumptions. Obama, as a politician, probably has thousands of acquaintances and he probably associates fairly frequently with hundreds of them. Does that mean that he shares all of their beliefs? That's an unwarranted, illogical assumption, particularly when he's stated that his beliefs are different, has stated what his beliefs are, and there's no evidence to the contrary.

Is it fair for McCain and his supporters to keep harping about the bad parts of a few people Obama knows? If you're honest, you'll admit it's not fair, it's a smear tactic, it's dirty politics, it's dishonest, and it shows a lack of moral integrity. But the McCain campaign, and his supporters, obviously feel that "the end justifies the means," i.e., dirty smear tactics are justified if it accomplishes getting McCain elected. Is that the kind of morality you favor? Is it okay with you that people do that? It isn't okay with me. I despise the lack of honesty, decency, and integrity.

I realize that politics usually has been a dirty business, but it doesn't have to be, and we can insist that it not be, by depriving those who employ sleazy tactics of our votes. McCain's decision to employ sleazy tactics was deliberate, and those tactics are beyond the pale. It was like selling his soul to the devil so he could become president. A person who does that is not fit to lead us and represent us to the rest of the world. He couldn't restore our previous reputation in the world for being the "good guys," which Bush tarnished so drastically. McCain's discarding of any pretense of integrity is reason by itself not to vote for him.

Replace the word "sleazy" with "sloppy" and you might be on to something.