I know that I should forgive those who have trespassed against us in this past election. I know I should hate the sin but love the sinner. I know that this is no time for gloating… But, oh dear God, I am just not strong enough for that.

It will take time for me to forgive and forget. The image of that awful Sarah Palin (photo at right) – that pitbull with lipstick, spouting lies, inciting racism and encouraging religious bigotry – is an indelible stain on my brain. How can I forgive the hypocrisy of that libertine, John McCain (below, right), with his mean-spirited name-calling. How can I forget how he twisted the truth (“to set a trap for fools,” as Kipling put it), counting on the media to ignore his own checkered past. How can I erase from my mind the resentment I feel toward this pampered playboy who consorts with criminals and enjoys their largess, who loves the high life – the yachts and villas, the drinking and the gambling – yet who professes to be a standard bearer for those who follow the flag of Jesus?

To anyone with a computer and a connection to the Internet, McCain’s past is readily accessible, yet the mainstream media was conveniently blind to his true character throughout this election campaign. They played up his wartime imprisonment as “heroism,” and played down a sinister Republican plot to hack into voting computers in swing states. They brushed off the heinous Republican attempts to suppress minority voting but were only too willing to blackguard the well-meaning social workers of ACORN. They even allowed McCain and his surrogates to spout a litany of lies without challenging them. And for their pains, the media were accused by the McCain camp of being biased toward Barack Obama. The injustice and irony will fester in my heart for a long time.

The mythology of “terrorist” Bill Ayers, “un-American” Pastor Wright, the “threat” of Socialism and the other bogeymen conjured up by the “Republican strategists” will fade into the past, and Obama – gracious as always – will keep his promise to “reach across the aisle.” I know this will be better for the country, that it will help us become one nation under God again. But Obama is a better man than I am.

I cannot “reach across the aisle.” Not yet. I am sure this burning sensation in the pit of my stomach will pass, that I will hold out my arms to Republicans again some day. But not today. And maybe not for a week or a month or a year…

Today I am filled with joy. But I cannot rid myself of the lingering aftertaste of the vilest election I have witnessed in my long life. I can only hope that I shall never again be confronted by the twitching, blinking, ogling face of Sarah (Pitbull) Palin, or that creepy smile of “war hero” John McCain.

As I watch the televised images of jubilant crowds across the globe, filled with hope and brotherhood and expectation, I pray for Barack Obama. He is going to need our prayers – not only to help him face the enormous challenges that lie ahead but also to protect him from the vicious creatures that would do him harm. May angels watch over Barack Obama and his beautiful family (above) as they begin their historic odyssey.