I went in around 7:30 in the morning to vote, and the lines were around the block. I didn't get out until after 1:00. I had been up all last night with insomnia, so the five hour nap I took was a welcome relief. As soon as I woke up, I turned on the computer and checked out CNN.com to see how we stood.
Obama was ahead 175 electoral votes to McCain's 67. And it was only getting worse for McCain.
Oh hells yeah!
"ARE YOU WATCHING THIS??!?" I called up Perry, because I had to talk to someone. We gabbered on for an hour or so, watching Obama gain ground. Then in one fell swoop, it was over, almost faster than I could catch it.
Barak Obama is America's first black president. Steve and I were whooping over the phone at each other.
Future generations may argue that Obama didn't play a particularly brilliant game so much as his opponents played it outstandingly bad. And, to his credit, Obama never lost his cool. They jabbed him and prodded him, but Barak Obama didn't back down an inch. And when it got ugly, only Obama stayed out of the mud puddle.
McCain's speech of acquiescence was the best he had ever given. I guess he realized at the end how pathetically misguided his whole campaign was. Must have been awful to grab the ball with both hands and realize you had just made a touchdown for the other team through no other tactic than being yourself. Palin looked none too pleased, but since no one takes her seriously anyway, who cares.
I'm so glad I lived to see our nation elect a black president. Even happier that he's someone as level-headed as Obama. I hope I can tell future generations about this era in my writings, where we saw the vilest acts against humanity and the boldest dreams come true. I will tell them that we pulled back from the brink, just short of armageddon, and checked the map to be sure we were on the right path. I will say that the dawn saw the return of sanity, and the United States trimmed the boat before it sank.
Here's to the next eight years. May America again become the country it once was.
8 comments:
"May America again become the country it once was."
America has NEVER been that country. That's always been the lie, of course, but this is something completely new.
Could it be that my constant state of frenzied outrage for the last eight years could actually be over? I am just amazed they went down that easy, I was sure there was going to be bloodshed.
Obama's speech was awesome. McCain's speech was also very good; definitely his best in a long time.
Capitol hill is friggin nuts right now. I had to take the long way home to avoid the thousands of people blocking the streets and I can hear the helicopters out my window.
It's a good gathering though. I may go get some free hugs. It would have been pretty insane if Obama had lost. In fact, there was one telephone pole up here with signs plastered all over it that informed people to meet there for the riot if Obama lost...
I'm heading to London next week and am so happy that I won't be ashamed to say that I'm an American.
this is an amazing day and I am still in awe.
Wha... Did something just happen???
Ha, ha... I'm with ya bro, this is great.
Now the hard work of surviving the second Republican Great Depression begins, and it's gonna take someone with Obama's skill and chrisma to hold things together and begin the rebuilding process.
-But for now, what a happy day!
---John @ Dojo Rat
Yep, there were were on the phone, chugging away at our beers -- me with a good American brew, Bobbe with that monks' wee-wee, laughing, talking, and all of a sudden we look up and THEY CALLED FOR OBAMA! BAM!
My wife had a class, I had to run send her an email to her Blackberry to let her know.
The specter of Palin with the nuclear launch codes has been banished back to the state where -- at the moment, -- they are re-electing a man to the Senate just convicted of seven felonies.
No offense to an Alaskans here, but you and Sarah deserve each other. Keep her up there, hey?
I think it was over-by-the-numbers when Pennsylvania went blue, and certainly after Ohio went blue. But they waited until the polls were officially closed out here in the Pacific states. Then bam! at 8:00:30, CNN was projecting Obama. McCain conceded within a few.
And I have to say, nothing in his campaign became him more than the losing of it.
I never thought I'd live long enough to see this. I can't imagine what it's like for someone like Rev. Jackson or Rep. Lewis, after fighting the good fight for all those years, to finally be able to look up and say "We did it. We're here."
Thought you might enjoy this Bobbe: http://www.joeydevilla.com/2008/11/06/not-just-last-night-but-in-general/trackback/
As to the election, all I can say is "Thank f*ck!"
We had an amazing time here in Ohio that night. I currently have a bit about it as the lead article on my blog right now.
This is an amazing time to be an American. My good friend Paul Jahshan congratulated me from Notre Dame University in Zouk Lebanon. He said "Congratulations once again, and may America be, once again, what it was really meant to be: the world's pride, and not its shame."
I am very proud.
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