Take a lesson from Roosevelt

In the book “Colonel Roosevelt” by Edmund Morris, there was an amazing description of Theodore Roosevelt on election night of Nov. 5, 1912, when he received a phone call at home at Sagamore Hill letting him know he had lost his bid for a third presidential term to Woodrow Wilson.

Roosevelt liked nothing about Wilson, and considered him a disaster, but he sent off a telegram of congratulations anyway.

From a passage in the book: “Just before midnight the Colonel received reporters in his study. He was still in black tie. A log fire burned softly behind him. ‘Like all other good citizens,’ he said, “I accept the result with good humor and contentment.’”

It occurs to me that this was a classy and adult way to accept defeat, and minimize division in the country. Roosevelt’s example is a real contrast to the last two and one-half years where the opposition cannot accept a presidential election they thought impossible, by using new tactics almost daily to try to negate the election.

Those who continue to oppose the 2016 election must be very miserable people, and make all around them miserable. If their tactics continue, our political system may fail, and we will become more like a banana republic, where elections do not matter.

Greg Pattillo

Raymond