post election day

I spent last night in front of the TV as I do every election night. Unlike twenty years ago when they took down Dukakis’s picture and put up Reagan’s vice president (GW Bush) by half an hour after the polls closed in New York, tonight they waited until polls on the West coast were closed. But just moments after 11, the election was called for Barak Obama. Tears streamed down my face. And Jesse Jackson’s face. And Oprah Winfrey’s face. And the faces of people all across the country. So incredibly emotional was yesterday’s election. A catharsis.

For the first time in a long, long time, I’m hopeful again, proud again to be an American. I’m not ashamed of my country or my president. We may be just reinvigorating that old 60s idealism, but I genuinely feel this man can change politics. Maybe we can have a government that works again. There’s still the religious right that’s infected the other party to deal with. That party will need to do some soul searching. And find ways to reconnect with actual people and not just corporate interests. Real people and not just ideology. Real people and not just hatemongerers. But this man’s presence is the picture of hope and calm, he is this generation’s inspiration.

How far we have come. I never thought I would see this in my lifetime; I never thought I’d see a black person even contend for the nomination. But now he is our president. President Obama. The words have come smoothly for months, it always felt right. He is powerful and calm and reasoned and smart and he ran a perfect campaign. Never wavering from his primary message, never reacting to unreasonable and silly attacks, never changing approaches, never making ad hominem his tactic, never losing faith in his ability to scale the height. When he came out last night, “America’s next first family,” he looked so calm and in command. This is our next president. Our smart president. Our president who was actually elected, not one who stole an election and then drove every important element of government into a ditch, leaving it there twisted and burning. This president will surround himself with smart people not afraid to speak their minds. He will base his decisions in sound reasoning after listening to what he needs to hear. This will be a good president, an honorable president, a president for the 21st century. Our eight year long nightmare is over, it’s morning in America. Now is the time, and yes we did.