Happy Obama Day!

I understand intellectually that what I witnessed last night was an historic event (The Daily Show made that clear). I feel a little silly doing this now, but I know that one day I am going to look back on my life and ask “what was I doing when Obama got elected?”

The answer is severalfold, really. I coined a new phrase (“Together People” for boyfriend and girlfriend). For a good chunk of it, I was covered in pomegranate juice (they're wiley little buggers, those pomegranates). I was also hanging out with some of my closest friends, huddled together on the couch and staring at the television in a quiet panic. Daryl was formulating his plan to move to Canada. We were discussing the chances of gay marriage being rebanned in California, the new Tacoma mass transit bill passing, and whether or not Washington would pass the assisted suicide bill. (I still need to find out. I hope they do.) On the TV, Colbert is becoming crankier and crankier as McCain fails to take the lead.

All of the sudden, the Daily Show ends with “Barack Obama has just been elected the next President of the United States.” My heart stops. We all stare in stunned silence.

“TURN TO MSN! FOX! ANYTHING!” Maddo's boy shrieks.

We do, and are greeted with silent newscasters, who are simply streaming feeds of Obama supporters celebrating all over the nation. I start crying right around the time we realize they are. Several other people in the room tear up, too. When the MSNBC anchors resume speaking, most of them are also in tears.

I can't really explain it. I really didn't think, until I saw McCain concede to Obama, that it was going to happen. I didn't think we had it in us. But we did. Yes we did! And I don't think that this is going to magically fix all of our problems with the environment, foreign relations, the economy, and the rampant racism that is still crippling us. But I do think it sends a message that we can change, and that apathy hasn't completely overwhelmed us. Until last night, I was convinced it had. Until last night, I had given up.

We've put this man on a pedestal and assigned him the task of reclaiming our faith in our government, and for that I am genuinely sorry, because I honestly don't believe one man can succeed with such a monumental mandate in four years. But I do believe that he will try. I trust him when he says he is going to try to be bipartisan, to bring us together again in a time when divisive tactics will only send us further down the drain. And I believe that the vast majority of the United States has chosen change. I have never seen an election be decided so quickly.

Now my only fear is that we have sentenced this man to death by handing him the reigns to such a divided nation. But this is a choice he made himself, and because of that I know he believes this is worth the risk. That we are worth the risk. And that is why I gave him my support despite my worry that my vote, in the end, will have killed a man.

Yes we did.