Me too (cried) -- after I saw Oprah and Jessie cry on camera on NBC in the crowd.

Yes M.J., this is more than change, it is sea change. You will find no black Disney princess for black girls to aspire to, but now they have role models living in the most powerful house on the planet.

Many have worked hard to see a day like this come to pass.

It has not been an easy road and this is not the destination, but Obama's election is a gigantic victory for the long term prospects for our country and for making our ideals and our vision of what America ought to be come closer to reality.

Much remains to be done, but this is a huge victory in a battle no one thought could have been won just a few short years ago let alone back in the 50's and 60's when people were losing their lives for daring to voice their opposition to segregation and legally sanctioned inequality. This proves the value in perservering even when it seems all the work and sacrifice and struggle will come to naught.

To tell you the truth, I didn't tear up tonight. I was tearing up this morning as I went from polling place to polling place seeing hundreds and hundreds of people lined up outside waiting to vote. They were people of ever race, class, etc... No demographic group was left out. they were determined, committed and happy! None of them was deterred by the long waits. All wanted to do their part. What I saw this morning was real patriotism because each of them was making a committment to a better America.

When I think about where we find ourselves today, I am reminded of a quote I read to myself often:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall.

Think of it - always."

- Mahatma Gandhi

M.J. - Your essays are a breath of fresh air. You are funny and deathly serious all in one piece. And always approachable in the way you write. That's not an easy skill to acquire and maintain.

I didn't tear up tonight. I deliberately kept myself from doing so. This past 8 years has been such a nightmare that I have already done way too much of that. Words are seductive in that if you say them the right way you forget that they need to be followed by actions if they are to have any meaning.

Now we have the chance to finally have words backed up by action and meaning.

Then I will tear up.

Cheers and thanks.

Just the opposite, NoWay. Obama was elected in spite of his color and BECAUSE of character -- principally, John McCain's character. If McCain had displayed the kind of character people thought he had two years ago, he might well have won. He would have given white voters a plausible reason to vote against the unfamiliar. Instead, McCain showed he would compromise his principles, recklessly select as his running mate an ignorant twit, and run a contemptible campaign based on misrepresentations, distortions, smears and unsubtle racism. I'm ashamed he didn't lose worse than he did.

Re: "....any child born in America, regardless of race, gender or faith can grow up to be president."

It helps to have half-a-brain---you bettcha!!

(As with my other postings), my congrats for Senator-to-President-elect Barrack H Obama. Hopefully, he and the Dems don't squander their November wins, but instead always looking forward.....

Excuse me for interupting your reverie in congratulating yourself for voting for Obama BECAUSE he is black.
Your statement: "We won't have to tell them, as white liberals tend to tell their kids, that they are "just as good as us" because they will know it"
sure sounds pat-on-your-lily-white-back(your own)racist to me.

We who are conservative, haven't felt the need to tell our kids such a thing, I guess because people of every stripe of color, religion, and ethnicity are always regular & welcome friends & guests in our home. Guess we never feel the need to STATE THE OBVIOUS! And perhaps if you actually were acquainted with people who have darker skin then yourself, you might discover that not ALL of them were as jubilant about Obama's election as you are. Just because a person has dark skin doesn't mean they are relegated to All sharing the same mindset, brainwaves or political viewpoints. There ARE actually (you may want to sit down to digest this shock and awe statement)conservatives who happen to be black, who would consider white people who vote for a candidate JUST BECAUSE he is black, every bit as racist a thing to do as the opposite, nor probably would Martin Luther King considering his quote:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER.”

–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Aug. 28, 1963

Although no one should deny that it was high time
this particular glass ceiling was broken, the reason most conservatives (black, white, red & yellow) would not vote for B.O. had nothing to do with his race but everything to do with his lack of character as evidenced by ONE example(& there are MANY examples) of his vote to deny babies born alive in botched abortions ANY medical care whatsoever. They are put in unused spaces of rooms(i.e: a nurse's testimony included a shelf in janitor's closet) etc. to die. (I would have provided the link on U-Tube showing Obama HIMSELF saying this, but U-Tube in their complicit participation in the liberal agenda of manipulating facts, has decided to remove the video from their site.) However a short audio clip on the Chicago Tribune website of Obama as the LONE senator arguing on the IL Senate floor on April 4, 2002, against Senate Bill B1663, a companion bill to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act that would have required an abortionist to call a second physician to assess a baby aborted alive is at the moment still available using this link:
http://www.jillstanek.com/29383467.mp3

Obama's most revealing statement from the clip was to say this bill "is really designed simply to burden the original decision of the woman and the physician to induce labor and perform an abortion." In other words, if a baby were to survive his or her abortion, the death plan marked out for this child should be carried out nonetheless. This chilling lack of concern from Obama for the most helpless, innocent members of society reveals a glaring character flaw denoting a callousness toward human life that should be hard to fathom, regardless of your skin color.

In addition to bad moral decisions, the political hydra of Obama/Biden/Pelosi/Reid/Dodd/Frank have economic plans which will effectively turn the USA into the USSA (United Soccialist Republic of America). We wonder HOW you will explain to your children and your grandchildren that socialism and the associated excessive and burdensome taxation of Americans was a CHANGE you believed in. We sincerely hope YOUR DESCENDANTS do NOT decide to punish you for your serious error in judgement this election, by leaving YOU in an unattended room somewhere to die without medical care. We hope THEY will develop the qualities of forgiveness, compassion and of making wise choices based on facts & not liberal media spin. Your life may depend on it,for as liberal Holland started with legalizing abortions to rid themselves of unwanted babies & have moved on to euthanasia to rid themselves of unwanted old relatives, all countries will ultimately decide by the votes of their elected (moral or immoral) officials whether they REALLY do value all of humanity or not.