Yes we can! Yes we can! And we DID.
America, we made history tonight, and I couldn't be prouder. Tonight is a truly amazing, truly historical, truly wonderful night.
I came home from the library at 7pm sharp, so I could watch all the poll results come rolling in. And since I hadn't scored a Golden Ticket for the Obama rally and the Boy was on call, I was glued to the TV. I switched between Anderson Cooper on CNN (they had cool fancy graphics, although I still don't know what to think of those holograms) and the regular networks all night. No commercials for me!
And let me tell you, I was nervous all night. I tried to eat dinner, but more food ended up in my lap than in my mouth. I gnawed a hole in my sleeve when the first poll results came in, and McCain was ahead. But as the night progressed, states slowly started to flip. Obama was painting the nation blue. And at 10PM Chicago-time, history was declared. America elected its very first African-American president.
But it goes so much farther than the color of his skin. This is a man who has truly energized the nation. He's inspiring and inspired, promising to unite our divided country and restore the American Dream, and I sincerely do believe that a change is going to come.
Yesterday - even just earlier today - I was glad that today was the end of the election. After all the fact checking and articles written by political pundits, I would finally be able to get back to my studies and not troll CNN.com's Political Ticker every five seconds. But as Obama said in his speech tonight, tonight is not the end. No, tonight is just the beginning.
Tonight, Obama pledged to be our president... the president for the "young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled." We voted for change, but now we must all start our quest to make change happen. And while he said "the road will be long, and the climb will be steep," that is a journey I can't wait to take. That is a journey that leads us to a better American future.
Call me cynical, but I never thought I would see a black man become the President of the United States. And to have such history happen at my relatively young age, makes me wonder at the history that is bound to occur throughout the rest of my life. It's going to be an amazing. These next four years will be amazing. And I cannot wait to see all that we can accomplish. Because it's going to be extraordinary. It's going to be exciting. It's going to be historical.
