ARTICLE
I'm shocked! I'm blown away! What happened! I waited until the last minute to write this week's column. Never in my time have I seen so much energy, angst and passion in an election cycle. We saw polling places with long lines and people willing to wait to have their voices heard. Whatever you want to say, these flawed candidates motivated us to get off our behinds and vote. I purposely used the word " flawed," because it's a word so overused this election year. If you haven't looked in the mirror lately, you might be unaware that you just may have a flaw or two yourself. And if you put yourself out there as a leader in sports, politics, business or almost any facet of life, people will be well aware you are a flawed human being and this new information overloaded 21st century will ensure that It's so easy and so common to call our politicians "flawed," "idiots," "crooks," or any other term that makes us feel a little more righteous. I'd say Secretary of State, U.S. senator and millionaire are pretty impressive titles to have on a resume and a large measure of success. Or how about billionaire, developer and father of five well-mannered children? Those traits are equally impressive and make you a little above average in my eyes. Paid Posts are created by our advertisers. Our editorial and reporting staffs are are not involved in the creation or production of Paid Posts. I make this point to the many people sitting in the grandstands, pointing the finger at imperfections. It's for those not in the game, not debating in front of millions, not campaigning almost 24/7 and grinding out a campaign. How about our candidates as they stood firm on their positions, knowing everyone would judge them and they would anger as many as they made happy? How about the fortitude it takes to accept that every flaw you have or mistake you've made will be exposed time and time again by your opponent and the media? So, the universe as we've known it the last eight years will change. And it will change in a big way. Americans will have a president who never held public office. He owes or is owned by almost nobody, for the most part. Not donors, not lobbyists, not even his own party, just the millions of Americans who climbed on board this movement. They will hold him accountable. They put him in the president's seat and they'll remember that. He emerged out of a pack of 17 to be the Republican nominee and then pulled off — against huge odds — the most shocking political upset in American history. Since this is a business-focused column, let me close by saying it was clear to me that the thousands of business leaders I've talked with were tired of the mandates, tired of the regulations, tired of the increased burden of Obamacare and lastly, the feeling that they were no longer the symbol of what's right with capitalism but, what's wrong. So we enter a new world, but this is still the greatest country in the world. It shifts power regularly and it does it seamlessly. I was impressed with President Obama. He was very respectful and unifying in his remarks. More pertinent to this election, Hillary Clinton was extremely gracious, professional and impressively American in defeat. She asks that we support this new president, as hard as that may have been for her. The American people have spoken and no matter what party you're in, this democracy works and I'm proud as hell of my country! Read the original article here.