This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Now that the election is over, Sen. Orrin Hatch owes the president an apology. Our senator-for-life promised us in dark tones that President Barack Obama would attack Gov. Mitt Romney for his religion.

Being a man of principle and one who himself has been falsely labeled a Muslim, the president did no such thing.

Unlike Romney, who shimmied his way from Massachusetts liberal left to tea party evangelical right and Etch-a-Sketched his way back toward the middle so we never knew what he believed, Obama honored his core beliefs. Hatch showed he isn't much of a judge of men.

While I know there is much wailing today among my co-religionists, they need not feel abandoned by God; the Constitution does not hang by a thread. I know, too, that, sadly, some will take comfort and reassurance in their own cherished sense of persecution. But I will literally thank God for the outcome.

Might we all now agree that obstructionism is not in the best interests of our nation? Could we please try to work together for the good of the country before we go over the cliff?

Michele Margetts

Salt Lake City