Prior to the election, this huge display in Fairhaven, MA read "Obama Now!"

It feels like many Americans, no matter who they voted for, are now very proud of the U.S. for the historic accomplishment of electing our first African American president. I’m proud of us, too.

Of course, the next question is, “what can he do?” The country is in a bit of a pickle, economically speaking. (In fact, I’m burying MY spare change in the backyard and I really hope you won’t dig it up.) Our health care system is great – if you can afford it. We’re mired in Iraq, although to an expert military strategist such as myself it is evident that it’s time to pack up and head home (I know, I know, not so simple). And we continue to be a divided country in so many ways – by religion, social class, political leanings, race, taste in shoes, and more. One election can’t erase that.

However. The last eight years were a study in fear and resignation. Our foreign relations were often embarrassing. Our president couldn’t pronounce “nuclear.” (This is major.) We responded to an attack by retaliating – mostly at the wrong country, since Iraq clearly had nothing to do with 9/11. Oops, sorry, Iraq. Chances are good that that we can do better.

Obama represents even more than our first African American president (and I sort of worry about that term, because like so many of us, he has a mixed lineage and I feel bad labeling him). He is highly intelligent (what a novel idea! a smart president!). He appears to be principled and has the ability to analyze and deal with information in a sensible, non-hotheaded way. And just as lovely is the fact that well over half of voting Americans gave him a mandate and are squarely behind his presidency. While the stock market bounced up and then tumbled during and following the election, showing that optimism is fragile, I do believe that having a president we can be proud of, and one who clearly represents the future and not some worn-out past, will make a difference in citizens’ faith in the U.S. and the way we move forward as a nation.

Could it be??

I’d be obfuscating – okay, lying – if I said I weren’t watching the stock market AGAIN today, even though my “money” (like the quotes? that’s a new addition) remains for the most part in the same old mutual funds, melting a little more each day even as I repeat the mantra, “this is no time to sell. this is…”

But for a couple of days I KNEW NOTHING.

Yes, yes, it’s important to stay aware of what’s happening around us right now, including the quaking economy and the this-is-getting-really-personal presidential election. But I escaped it for the weekend by neither looking at a newspaper or TV news nor using a computer (indeed it’s possible – just travel to the middle of a large lake in a good sailboat and forget that Palin is hinting that Obama is a terrorist, and that one’s theoretical retirement is looking like a shrinking speck on a distant horizon).

Guess what? IT FELT GOOD not to know. And this is being said by a news-junkie-don’t-call-me-a-nerd-bookworm-I’m-a-little-worried-oldest-child.

I’m planning yet another ignorance interval. I promise that it won’t be a work day.

To all the representatives who voted against the bailout plan… thanks for nothing.

We’re watching the market drop now. We know you didn’t want your constituents to be angry with you right during – you know – your election campaign. Why? Because you need your job. But your constituents – not all of whom have vast economics knowledge – need their jobs, too, and there’s a good chance many of them will lose those jobs during the next year or more.

Here’s the roll call for today’s vote, so each of us can decide whether our specific elected officials deserve to get on the unemployment lines or toddle back to their seats in Washington.

Meantime, the rest of will redouble our efforts to pay for fuel, put our kids through school and maybe start (once again) saving for retirement.

This is the opinion of a voter, business owner (generally a bit of a free-market capitalist, but I know when to make exceptions), parent, investor, and citizen. And in each of those roles, I am sad, disappointed and, at the moment, disgusted with the House of Representatives. I wish we had heroes. I wish we had good leaders.

Sure, I’m way too emotionally involved this election season. But I consider the time and the hand-wringing an investment in my professional tool set, because this year’s presidential campaigns are studies in marketing, and very cynical marketing at that.

Which gets me thinking… how on earth can a communicator be believable when she has something “for sale”?

Personally, I look at everything the candidates and their cohorts do through a glass darkly. Picking Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee? Don’t get me started about how cynical THAT was – and I so hope the women of America don’t vote for her just because she has XX chromosomes. Obama’s growing sympathy for the gun-totin’, God fearin’ working class? (Didn’t he say something about them clinging bitterly to something? Guess hangin’ around a few town halls in Pennsylvania wised him up…) Even the small stuff: Cindy McCain holding Sarah Palin’s new baby on TV? Awww… but I notice she REALLY doesn’t want that kid to barf on her dress. The cynic in me sees only a photo opp, not brilliantly handled.

Trying to learn from the mistakes of political campaigns… okay, so what about marketing products and services? The same problems can arise – it’s tough getting a cynical audience to believe anything professional PR people and other communicators say – even when it’s absolutely true.

Letting the truth be the point. That will help. The truth looks true. It sounds true. Maybe it’s funny, eye-catching or new. The truth doesn’t shift message just to be expedient. It doesn’t underestimate the intelligence of its audience. It doesn’t pull a bait-and-switch.

When you can’t say something good and true about the product or service you’re selling? No kidding – as a marketer, you should just say no. Save yourself for something worth talking about.

Integrity, over the long term, equals believability. I think it shines through – and that’s where my own cynicism ends.

Yikes! Last night, listening to Sarah Palin’s national debut, then the pundits’ unabashed adulation, I felt … so alone. Was I the only person in America who was horrified by her mean-spirited, small-minded speech?

Prime example: Palin mocks Obama for advocating that suspected terrorists, when arrested, be read their rights. And the audience agreed! Big time! Loud boos and vehement nodding of their Uncle Sam top hats made it clear that Ben Franklin’s statement, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety” is passe. Ouch.

I’m a marketer and a PR professional, so I should be able to understand how the masses think. Why then, as I heard Palin promoting her “hockey Mom” credentials and direly warning the crowd that this is a “world of threats and dangers” best managed by a man who has been tortured, rather than one who hasn’t – why was I so worried that I alone, really alone, think Palin is a horror show?

In the light of today, I’ve encountered more enlightened individuals, none of them toting rifles or wearing the American flag as a costume, who weren’t enthralled by the new candidate. And for that, I am truly grateful.