Yes the campaign is over. The red states and the incumbent President, George W Bush, have prevailed. But, make no mistake, this is no mandate for the republican leader, who claims to be a unifier but has proven otherwise. I am a moderate Republican who was (is) alarmed by the inability of the President to stake a centrist and even handed approach, and seems so captive of the evangelical right, corporate interests and those of the well heeled and upper echelons of our social structure. I will never forget how he sidelined and marginalized Colin Powell for the conservative “warlords” – who have never proven their valor in battle but are willing to send the sons and daughters of the poor and lower middle class to die, without adequate armor and equipment.

Our monumental challenges still remain: a highly polarized civic body politic; massive national debt and a literally empty treasury; a middle class anxious and unsure of its future and that of their children; a nation where a sizeable number of our citizens are without any (not even inadequate) health care; and a minority population full of hope and willing to work resiliently to enjoy the American dream, but also hopeful for aid for their donor societies which face formidable economic and social challenges, emanating from widespread globalization and corporatization - and I could go on, and on. What this country now needs is transformative and inclusive national leadership and herein lays the challenge for the man who would be King.

In his second term, as Tony Blair his ally in England so rightly stated, he (Bush) must attempt to seek peace for Israel in an even handed manner that establishes a genuine homeland for the disenchanted and dispossessed Palestinian Diaspora- this is the only road to peace in the Middle East. The President must reinvigorate his efforts to end world hunger and shrink the gap internationally and global inequity between rich and poor nations. We should be doing much more in terms of maximizing educational exchanges and aid for international students to study in our universities/colleges. Unfortunately, in a post 9/11 era Bush’s xenophobic policies are steering students and their human capital to Canada ,Australia, New Zealand and other developed nations, further depriving our students of the international contact they so badly, and sorely need.

In his social agenda the issues must be etched in principled centrism that is free of the zealotry of the right but still eschewing the rigidities of the far left so far discredited in American politics. His first choice will be in the appointment of a new Chief Justice, where he could very well choose a centrist from the current Court - O’Connor for example - and follow with Gonzalez as the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court member. He must, as again Blair so rightly indicated, shift from the view that democracy and freedom can be imposed at the barrel of a gun- military might “per se” will not rule the day, as America still needs to maximize and unleash its “soft power” in defense of its so called defense of freedom –read, protection of its economic and political hegemony.

To do this and more the President, in my opinion, needs to appoint Cabinet members who are not zealots and mindless robotic followers but independent thinkers – loyal yes, but able to state their positions forcibly and give their advice without fear of the consequences. Powell is a fine exemplar of such a cabinet member who, unlike O’Neil, (former Treasury Secretary who resigned in disgust) stood his ground and remained la loyal “soldier” even though his advice was largely unheeded.

Now here is a solid role model for not only racial minorities but for all Americans, for under his watch the State Department has reinvented itself and tried o recast a more humane social agenda that focuses on welding democracy with development. West Indian Americans, like other minorities must diversify their political support and not be captive solely to the Democratic Party which needs yet to reinvent a winning constituency and new message that resonate with the “new immigration”. We have our first Cuban American. United States Senator and only our fifth African American- although I would argue that Obama is more of a new American-of mixed heritage and captive to none. He, like Powell crosses over from being merely, (or rather solely), an African American.

This will serve him well in the new “red states America.” And, more so, as a political animal he has had to learn to build inclusive constituencies. The new immigrants- Asian Indians, Koreans, Salvadorans, Cubans, etc and their offspring will not automatically follow the footsteps of the political socialization of yesteryear. They will march (and are marching) to a different drummer.

This could well be morning time in America- where the nation strikes out in a forged new direction to empower the disenfranchised here and abroad whilst building creative economic and political alliances that will allow us peace and prosperity, both internally and externally.

Yes, the red states have won the day, but yet I feel gray as I am unsure that the mantle of leadership required will be achieved in this the President’s second term. That failing, our nation will be the loser. Let freedom ring.