and i also noticed Jesse Jackson in the crowd, however briefly. i shared the overwhelming joy and wept uncontrollably, and i am a 50 year old white woman, who is so proud of this country, that we finally can live up to what Martin Luther King Jr. and men like Jesse Jackson worked so hard for all these years.

That the image of Jesse Jackson crying moved me, but it didn't. Every person at my election party snorted when his picture appeared on the television. We all remarked, "He knows the cameras are on him."

It is a shame but for many of us, his legacy has been tarnished by his self-serving behavior. Much more moving was listening to Joseph Lowery, one of the founders of SCLC, as he was being interviewed on BET. His voice cracked and his eyes were teary as he described what it felt like to be witnessing the election of the first Black president of the United States.

I was also moved and astounded by the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people who were packed into Grant Park to witness history being made. Their faces were shining with hope and wonder. It was a glorious night.

It's the first time in my life I've seen an enormous crowd waving small American flags and felt good about it.

-a Canadian pal

Three years ago, could any of us have imagined that we'd elect a biracial candidate for U.S. President by such a huge margin? We've spent the last twenty months looking around us waiting for racial bias to set in from other people, and in the end, it just didn't. Not enough to overwhelm the merits of the issues, and the need to get good work done.

Wow.

Watching the numbers go over 270 I was suddenly unable to focus. Was it real, had I gone mad with hope and denial, would the words "All rise for President Palin" be put off for at least another 4 years and maybe forever.

I could (as a UK citizen) say a lot about tokenism, how Margaret Thatcher didn't end sexism and Benjamin Disraeli didn't end anti-semitism; that Obama is far more centrist than I'm really happy with and yet...

Something wonderful has actually happened. Or to be more precise, something incomprehensibly horrible has been prevented. At last someone competent will be running the country (also your country). After 8 years of an administration that was not satisfied with being venal and evil but had to be incompetently venal and evil, it's almost too good to take in. That it's a history making candidate that even 4 years ago, most people would have believed impossible, is a bonus whose impact seems unfathomable.

But if so, here it goes...

I can't believe it's over! And not just over, but SO OVER, in so many way...

It's the end of the dirty smear campaign by Republicans, one that overwhelmed any kind of clear alternative msg. that the GOP could have offered...

The end of Bradley-style, race bating politics (on both sides of the aisle, though the Republicans were slower to let it go)...

The end of constantly second-guessing and hand-wringing by Democrats, who have seen SO many elections lost by their own lack of self-confidence alone...

The end of voting out of fear instead of voting for hope...

The end of Sarah Palin. Period...

The end of (hopefully) this awful war in Iraq...

The end of this 8 year nightmare that we've been living in called the Bush Administration...

I honestly felt, after hearing President-Elect Obama's speech, that a long, never-ending bad dream had just ended, and that America's Finest Hour may be upon us at the dawn of the 21st. Century.

Yeah, I'm bleary-eyed and will probably be wrong about half of my "The end of..." statements. But GODDAMNIT, we DID IT!!!! In one fell swoop, we took a leap in race relations that even the most liberal of Western Countries hasn't been able to do...elect a minority to a MAJOR ELECTED OFFICE!!!!

I don't think anyone really gets it yet. America has just taken the greatest step in humanity possible...and it took place in front of us almost as an after-thought, what with all of the concerns about the economy.

Yes folks...America's greatest moment just might be upon us, and not a moment too soon. Although I would have given anything to not have had Bush in office during the last 8 years, I wouldn't trade a day of it had I known it would lead to the sea change in attitudes about politics and race that we've seen over the last 2 years...to the point that someone like Obama would get elected President.

...is _finally_ here. Yee-hah!! :)

I can feel the cynicism that I have held toward electoral politics withering away with this enormous victory. The fact that a Black man is the new face of the American presidency. The fact that this man included gay people and people with disabilities in his acceptance speech. These the things that make me proud, for the first time in my life, to be an American.

I have been trying to collect my thoughts for the past three hours.

I voted this morning then went to a day job I'm a bit angry I have to be quite SO thankful for. I clocked my eight hours, came home, ate chicken, then planned to spend a few precious hours working on my own humble dreams, but ended up wrestling with a balky computer program instead. Through it all I had the election coverage on my TV...and I watched America change direction, and quite possibly save itself... right there on my TV, on an otherwise quiet Tuesday night.

I'm a 40+ year-old former punk rocker who embraced a seething sort of anarchy, bordering on nihilism, 28 years ago, when so many of us were convinced that a reckless & feckless new president (and former B-movie actor) was destined to turn us all into radioactive dust... I'll grant you that he didn't do it, but he and his posse of jackals set the table for what was to come: Uber-jackals, who left us with a ravaged economy and a shredded Constitution as well as a shattered Heartland populated by basically good folks who have been cattle-prodded in to staying scared, uninformed and angry.

And now?

Now that I've turned the TV off, I am just beginning to really feel the magnitude of the shift that has occurred. As I sit quietly and imagine the thrilled and hopeful masses of Americans who surged into the streets tonight... I have a hope that this is the beginning of something so new that it'll defy description. I have deeply feared for my country and now, as corny as it sounds, I DO have some hope again. I hope we seize this incredible moment in time to lift each other up, and turn get this sweet country BACK on track to become what it has always tried to be: a beacon of Possibility, Justice and Joy for EVERYone.

Tonight I'm prouder to be an American than I have been in a long, long while.

Gabba Gabba Hey !!