It's going to be sobering to wake up tomorrow and realize that Obama has to govern a country that hasn't been this fractured since the Civil War. And we supporters have to find a way to translate today's enthusiasm into four years of sustained hard work as citizens to support him when he's right and correct him when he's wrong. Given the messes we have to clean up, living under an Obama presidency will require active, positive, participatory citizenship of a sort that Americans have, for the most part, forgotten how to do.

I wish us all luck.

Please don't immediately surrender to pessimism. Yes, there are vast differences of opinion and even animosity between the various groups of people who identify with this or that issue. Obama is the kind of person who'll bring them together if it's at all possible. This is the time for deliberate, determined optimism, not its opposite.

Just like when I was watching the Democratic Convention, this article brought a lump to my throat and once again made me realize why we love Obama: he inspires us to be great and do great things.

The Republican Party inspires divisiveness, greed, hate. It inspires a me, me, me mentality.

Barack Obama inspires us to be way better than that.

This is a realistic hope that, for the first time in at least 8 years, we have a prayer that our hard work will actually mean something. Not just for the privileged few or the corporations, but for the rest of America. Pessimism would be to believe that an Obama administration would be no different than the previous, or that he or we have no say and no responsibility for making things better. It would be foolish, though, to think that an Obama victory is anything but the beginning of at least four years (hopefully more) during which the now-minority party will continue its avowed policy of undermining every progressive policy or piece of legislation that might attempt to change the status quo. Likewise the majority party will not do the right thing on their own - it needs the people to keep hammering away at them to do the job they were elected to do. And we need to hammer away at the next president, and I sincerely hope it will be Obama, in the same way. He's no messiah, no saint. He's a gifted, brilliant politician and leader, but Obama can only lead us where we tell him we want to go. Where we *insist* we want and need to go. This is government of the people, after all, and if you didn't like the last eight years, then blame yourself. If you want change, it has to begin with the person sitting in your chair as you read this.

I did not come early to the Obama camp. Throughout the long primary process, I evaluated all the candidates, watched the debates, and initially selected John Edwards as my choice. As candidate after candidate bowed out, I continued to examine Barack Obama and his positions. While my husband would get misty over Obama's orations at rallies following primary wins, I remained steely and unemotional as I looked closely at this man who might someday be in the White House.

I was finally satisfied that Barack Obama was the right man at this point in history to take on the role of Commander in Chief, and I gladly volunteered and knocked doors and delivered campaign literature. I continued to follow him in the debates and I respected his positions and his manner of expressing himself more and more.

When the opportunity to finally hear him in person arose, I made the journey to Manassas--a journey that took me over two hours just to travel 15 miles, and also included walking over a mile from my parking space to the fairgrounds--and stood in the middle of a field with tens of thousands of Obama supporters. We waited and we waited, and yet the atmosphere was not one of boredom or impatience. We laughed together, we sang and danced and talked about how excited we were, even though we were strangers. Barack's exhortations throughout the campaign to come together as one America seemed to ring true.

When he finally took the stage, someone watching on TV might think that we were not as exuberant in our reaction as would be expected. But if you stood where I stood in that crowd -- about 50 feet in front of a lighted sign imploring us to "VOTE FOR CHANGE" -- and looked at the sea of people, and listened to the crowd respond to Obama's remarks with comments such as "Tell it!" and "You know that's right!", you would understand how deeply he has touched people during this campaign.

I believe the crowd understood that we were watching history being made. While we were happy to be there, and happy to hear Obama speak at his final rally, we all understood that this is not a done deal and that history will only be made if we take continue to take action and vote, and continue to work for change no matter the result of the election.

In short, I think Barack Obama has touched a deep vein within the American population. Many people had given up hope for a better future, and had come to see 'leadership in Washington' as an oxymoron. Obama's message of hope, and his ability to help us visualize a better future, and yes, his ability to stir up a crowd of strangers in a field on a cloudless night and make us believe in him and in each other, provoked an emotional reaction for me that can't be captured by a TV camera or a reporter's notes.

Part of the reason for the quiet last night was our respect for the fact that Obama had come to be with us in spite of his obvious grief over his obvious grief. And, though Senator Obama looked a bit sad -- his speech was stirring. He called on all of us to help him finish the election journey.

I was lucky enough to be 10 feet away from the podium but I could see the crowd all the way to the far edge of the field. Many of us had been there for 7 and 8 hours and had parked miles away from the Fair Grounds. Young African Americans stood next to rural Virginian red-heads. Yuppies from "Communist" Alexandria, Virginia held hands with Goths from Hampton Roads during the R&B version of "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand." Stangers shared French Fries with each other. It was almost sickeningly sweet! Too politically correct! We were 80,000+ cold, tired, shivering people, standing next to each other -- waiting to hear from our future president!

And, the second Obama's Lead car arrived, lights flashing -- the mood became electric! People started clapping, smiling; any previous annoyances (our toes were frozen, Obama was an hour late, we had to hear "Beautiful World" 10 times!) were forgotten!

As I mentioned, Obama looked a bit wan -- but he smiled and talked from his heart. He gave a wonderful -- end of campaign wrap-up speech. He menitoned his grand-mother and that McCain had sent condolences. He thanked us for ours. Afterward, he shook hands, and then came back on stage for a last, wistful good-bye wave. And was gone.

The crowd watched him closely till he disapeared and then left to get ready for one of the last messages Obama had given us -- TOMORROW. We were happy and content and smiled to ourselves as we made the long trek back to our cars and home. There was no horn-honking impatience.

The road ahead won't won't be easy...Obama said that several times last night and we in the crowd already knew it. But, having a leader who is optimistic, compassionate and who has a powerful intellect and who is inspiring will make it a bit easier.