Peace Out, Politics.

I need a break, but we can still be friends.

After 11 months of anticipation, 9 potential presidential candidates, and many exhausting hours of campaign participation, I’m spent. I have voluntarily absorbed unthinkable amounts of political news analysis and now that we have a president-elect, I deserve my own honeymoon period.

Obama won and, yes, I cried as he gave his acceptance speech. I am so happy I could puke rainbows.

Even though I need a political siesta, I can’t help but blog. Obama gave his first news conference as president-elect on Friday and did a mighty fine job.

With the economy going to hell in a hand basket, Obama has a tough road ahead of him and I don’t think he’s going to be able to please everyone with each decision he makes. He has promised inspiring messages of hope, but he cannot perform miracles. So don’t expect sudden huge changes, people.

Obama recognizes this challenge:

Well, I think that a new president can do an enormous amount to restore confidence, to move an agenda forward that speaks to the needs of the economy and the needs of middle-class families all across the country. I've outlined during the course of the campaign some critical issues that I intend to work on… So there are some things that we know we're going to have to do, but I'm confident that a new president can have an enormous impact. That's why I ran for president.

He made a statement at the news conference about the dog his family intends to get. “Obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me,” he said. This one comment illustrates how dramatically different his administration is going to be.

Apart from his mostly skillful discussion with the press, he did make one mistake when asked which former presidents he talked to.

“I've spoken to all of them that are living…I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any séances.”

He did get a chuckle from the crowd, but poor Ms. Nancy...that was a little uncalled for.

Obama apologized, of course, and all is well. Actually, all is not well. Palin is back in Alaska, but is still on my damn TV. This time, she called the media “jerks” and said they were being mean. Boo hoo. There is one gift only she can give that is critical to my sanity: her absence.