Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States tonight.
At 11pm, when the cable-news talking heads could finally retire their touch-screen floating maps and tentative conjectures, the projection was made. And I cried.
I, hard-hearted cynic, longtime sufferer of political malaise, was swept up in the moment.
It wasn’t just the euphoria that accompanies the triumph of a candidate one has supported, argued for, defended strongly, written about, donated to. This felt different.
The term “historic” is maddeningly overused by those who seek to endow the mundane present with the swelling significance of the past. It’s only as these events recede into history that we can take true measure of their impact, their place.
And yet, the election of a Black man as President feels like a watershed, a defining moment. A break with the sordid inequalities that predated our country’s birth and persisted long thereafter; an evolution into the best of what we always imagined this country could be.
Barack Obama’s election tonight and his inauguration will not solve all of our problems. Far from it. He faces a maelstrom of challenges—political, economic, foreign and domestic.
But he does so with the support of (it now appears) more than 50% of the voting electorate, and a groundswell of grass-roots engagement nearly unprecedented in modern politics. And even though I don’t agree with his every stance, his every utterance, I have the feeling he will do the extraordinary as President: he’ll listen.
Bradley Effect, Schmadley Effect: tens of millions of people of all backgrounds cast their ballots for an African American candidate today because they believed he was the best person for the job. That says a lot about us, to us—and to the rest of the world.
Congratulations, Senators Obama and Biden.
January 20th, 2009 is no longer only Bush’s last day—it’s also now Obama’s first.