So, Obama won. I cried. It might be one of the greatest moments in America's history. So many barriers fell last night, and so much promise opened up. I kept hugging Michelle and repeating how happy I was. She probably thought I had lost my mind.I remember the first time Clinton was elected. I had the same sense of promise. And of course that promise was never fulfilled. But those were damn good years. We were a stable, hopeful nation. The last eight years have obliterated almost everything we have to be proud of as a country.
ALMOST everything.
Last night, the fact that a divided nation elected Barack Obama in such a decisive landslide (and not to too my own horn, but my count wasn't too far off!) means we've made a huge step to righting the wrong we've done to ourselves and to the world last night.
Will everything change? No. Will most things change? Actually, probably not, not right now. But what is different is that our nation has made a fundamental shift toward looking into the future instead of fearing the residual effects of the past. I didn't endorse Obama at the outset of the Primary season, and the reasons I didn't still largely exist, but I think now that he's risen to the highest office in the land (world?), those reasons are rendered mostly moot and he'll do his best to do right by us and deliver on the burden of promises we've placed upon him and he's agreed to shoulder.
For the first time in a long time I'm actually proud of the behavior displayed by the majority of my fellow citizens.
Well done, folks ... well done.
Photo from last night's Obama speech in Grant Park
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