Wonderful Mr. Blackwell

In his New York Post editoral, Mr. Blackwell (hopefully our next RNC Chairman) wrote of his grandmother's wisdom (and Dr. King):

My grandmother helped shape my worldview. She used to tell my brother and me, "We're sending you out into the world. You're going to meet four types of people - hold-outs, sold-outs, drop-outs and all-outs."

The hold-outs, she said, are the self-doubters - they always have low expectations. The sold-outs would rather exploit humanity than enhance it. The drop-outs don't understand that the human condition, the human struggle, is sometimes painful. They don't understand that you have to go through the thunder and the lightning and the clouds and the overcast days to reach the sunshine. So they find an escape, whether it's alcoholism, drug addiction or watching soap operas all day.

The all-outs, she said, are just ordinary folk who give you 100 percent. They're not sprinters, but long-distance runners.

Obama - the president we inaugurate today - is a testimony to all the ordinary long-distance runners in America's 232-year history.