Life After Inauguration Day

The long presidential campaign is coming to an end. We don't know who won, but we will. We have had delays before and the country survived, and it will survive again.

One day soon, the counting will be done and the men who sought the presidency will accept the results - and the one who loses will congratulate the other.

Far from being easy, it may be the hardest thing either man has ever done. But I believe it will be done because both of these men are honorable men - and they will recognize their first duty is not to party and partisans, but to the country.

The advisers may well give contrary advice - and the partisans are never satisfied. But eventually, both men will thank the advisors and excuse the partisans and look within themselves and there find the answer to what they must do.

I hope the one who loses heard former President Gerald Ford the other night when he said, "As one who has lost a close election, I can tell you there is life after Inauguration Day."

The crowd loves the winner of the moment. But in history's long view, it is not always the winner of the moment who proves victorious.

One battle lost does not spell defeat nor the end of life.

The true leader is not always the one who wins, but the one who shows us what is right.

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