Collegiate Times

I witnessed history last Tuesday; the first mostly black president of the United States -- since Barack Obama is, in fact, half Caucasian -- was elected by more than half of the people who voted in the election.

Parties broke out throughout the world celebrating the election, and hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people rejoiced over the fact that President Bush will finally be out of the high chair he has eagerly maintained since late January 2001.

I have to admit, I did not vote for President-elect Obama. I did not vote for Sen. John McCain, either, but I am relieved a new position will take over Washington.

A mandate has ensued following the election, and the liberal agenda will take charge of the government for a while, which is actually quite scary when you think about all of the Republican hate that I have witnessed over the past years. In my opinion, the mandate is both good and bad because the world is about to change, if it already hasn't.

Since the liberals will control both the Senate and Congress, they will be able to do as they please and pass whatever they feel is necessary. The government might start to think with the left side of its brain in several years. I hope it still remembers how.

I know that the election was, for the most part, swayed by the new voter turnout that swept over the country. College campuses silently screamed Obama since he was the Democratic presidential nominee, and if anyone has walked around campus in the last week, you can see phrases like "Change We Need" and "Barack Obama" written in cheap sidewalk chalk on various steps and pathways outside of buildings.

I am sorry that I didn't catch the reference but could only laugh when confronted with a sky blue  "OBAMA" at 9:15 in the morning. Just to let everyone know, "Change Can Happen" just as failure can happen, which is pretty much what Barack is facing right now.

Most likely one of the worst economic situations in the history of the United States, with a few exceptions of course, is bubbling over in towns, cities, and states and even other countries.

Hundreds of thousands of homeowners are now paying thousands of dollars more than what their houses are worth.

Many people have given up completely and turned their houses and properties over to the bank that issued the loan, which makes sense. I would rather get out early than not get out at all.

So people can't afford the outrageous mortgages that they signed up for. That could be because of the destruction of their financial stability when their jobs fell out beneath them.

My family has experienced what many families had been hit in the face with a month or so ago, except we lost everything back in the late 1990s. We moved from a modestly spacious house in a Northern Maryland suburb to a modestly restricted townhouse not too far away, but still in another world.

However, things do work out, which would be my only advice to those staring at bankruptcy or worse.

In essence, the United States is in a fairly lousy situation right now, and the current transition period where President Bush is slowly handing over the reins to Obama is not the most opportune time. We are at a standstill.

Of course I know things are being done, but a problem still remains thugh when General Motors goes from being a multibillion-dollar company to being just a $2-billion company with its only feasible options being bankruptcy, massive layoffs or a hefty government bailout.

Bush and company do not want to bail out the automobile industry because of some of the ethical responsibilities the government should abide by. President-elect Obama would like to help the automobile industry because if it fails, we could all fail.

It seems that we as a nation need to get back on track and stop worrying about race, politics, religion or whatever else can be thrown atop the list before everyone in this country is drowning in thousands of dollars of debt.

It would be nice to forget the Obama family's search for a hypoallergenic dog.