KEY POINTS:
It was a grand week last week. Barack Obama strolled into the United States presidency. And a few days later John Key strolled into the New Zealand prime ministership.
I'm not, of course, comparing Mr Key with Mr Obama. After all, Mr Obama will head up a country of more than 300 million people in which all New Zealanders would fit into a small city, and New Zealand is but a minor bit player on the world stage.
Nevertheless, the two do have a few things in common. They are both young men and they both preach a doctrine of inclusiveness, in sharp contrast to the dictatorial dogmatisms of the Administrations they are replacing.
It is only to be hoped that they both live up to our expectations of them.
Labour prided itself on its particular brand of inclusiveness, but that was confined to pandering to tiny minorities while trying to make the rest of us feel guilty for wanting to uphold a more traditional society.
If there was anything to mar my enjoyment of the election result, it was that my prediction that National would govern alone didn't quite come off.
But, hey, the party got within an ace of it, and in any case that scenario lost much of its importance with the self-immolation of Winston Peters and NZ First and the relegation of the Greens to a position of impotence.
It has given Mr Key the opportunity to include in his government some who have something to offer but have been excluded under Labour's rigid domination.
Of particular pleasure is Mr Key's reaching out to the Maori Party, for whose members I have developed a great deal of respect.
Perhaps that's because I live in Rotorua, where Maori, Pakeha and others live harmoniously and racism exists only in the heads of a handful of angry activists.
Or perhaps it's because I've been trying this year to learn te reo, and with that have absorbed a modicum of Maori culture from some patient and gentle kaumatua and kaiako (teachers).
The moderate, thoughtful and polite behaviour of the Maori Party members, and their single-minded determination to serve the people who put them in Parliament, provide examples that others might well follow.
Any group which can moderate the demeanour and language of a Hone Harawira, and get him to wear a suit and tie, has a lot going for it. In fact, Mr Harawira is already fulfilling his promise to become a true rangatira of his people.
I am only too aware of how difficult it must be for the Maori MPs even to consider forming an association with National. The traditional link between Maori and Labour goes back a long way, and in Maoridom tikanga tuku iho (tradition) is never far from the thoughts of those who are participating in the events of today.
However, it seems that Tariana Turia, Pita Sharples and their team are prepared to break new ground, and my prayer is that a new relationship will develop that is fruitful to both parties and of benefit to us all.
How good it is to have the government taken from the hands of what Colin James calls the "urban liberal elite" and put back in the hands of people who more accurately reflect the mores and lifestyles of the majority of New Zealanders.
It is only to be hoped that, once they have dealt with the pressing problems of a world economy in turmoil, and the other things he has promised to accomplish promptly, Mr Key and his team will take a close look at some of the appointments made by Labour.
The personnel of the Office of Film and Literature Classification, the Children's Commissioner, the Human Rights Commission, the Families Commission and the Abortion Supervisory Committee, to name just a few, need to be reviewed.
For they, too, have been too long under the control of members of that liberal urban elite and therefore have not in their activities and decisions reflected the more conservative expectations of most New Zealanders.
Rather they have constantly pushed the envelope of liberalism to the extreme, running far ahead of the majority whose concepts of morality and behaviour remain much more moderate.
They need to be weeded out and replaced with people whose standards and lifestyles more accurately reflect those of most of us.
Meanwhile, one thing that baffles me in the aftermath of the election is the number of people who have hailed Helen Clark as a "great" Prime Minister.
Granted, this seems to be more an emotional than rational view, but I would be interested to see a cogent argument in its defence. Sure, she and her offsiders achieved a few good things for New Zealand and New Zealanders, but so have most of our Prime Ministers.
