The Audacity of HOPE Indeed!!

I am so moved by today's outcome on our new President Elect Barack Obama!

It's amazing...I never thought I'd be interested in or truly qualified to take a stand on politics, and yet tonight I felt the electricity of witnessing American history happen in my very own lifetime! I feel so blessed that I could partake in making it happen, not to mention exercise my right to vote when so many people throughout history and the world have been denied that very fundamental right.



Funny thing, my own sister who loves Obama actually came home from work with the mindset that McCain would win because Americans would not vote for a black American President...(fearful skeptic that she is), and I felt so much pride in showing her the CNN projected electoral votes going in Obama's direction. (My own mom fell victim to the fear-mongering campaigns against Obama.)

Out of respect for everyone's right to his/her own opinions and political beliefs, I have laid low on sharing mine. Now that it's official, I have to say that I'm overwhelmed with joy and so proud to be an American.

Let's face it...over the past eight years, it has been hard to feel proud to be an American. Now I was never ashamed but starkly aware of how we as a country were going downhill, and losing our respect among other nations because we were arrogant hypocrites who preached ideals but were not living up to our own standards.

Obama's story and Presidential win is amazing and represents all that is amazing about being an American. I hope that he will be our President for the next eight years, because I think he has shown us how to hope again, and yet how to be steady and handle ourselves while we take care of our issues, and also how have an open mind and understand. I'm touched that not only did we Americans want him to be our President, but so did the world at large.

My America is a smart, capable, understanding, tolerant and diverse America where we breed hope and opportunities for those who have struggled and put their faith in our country. President Elect Obama has shown us all that we truly can, and today we did, as the United States of America. It's a great time to be an American and our future is bright once again. A new movement has begun!

P.S. I was only slightly disappointed I didn't have to wait long in line or get to use the swanky electronic election booth in privacy so that I could have taken pictures of myself voting (something O Magazine editor Gail said on The Oprah Show that we should do to make sure our votes are counted correctly...though I would have done it just in the excitement of a historical vote!).

UPDATE: Music videos from Will.i.am, "Yes We Can" and "It's A New Day (premiered on Friday's Oprah)." *tear*