Obama wins

At about 10pm central time, NBC called the contest for Obama. It looked like it was steadily heading that way during the course of the night and this was the final confirmation. One of the themes surrounding the election was that it would be historic regardless of who won. We would either have an African-American president or a female vice-president. Being from the Chicago suburbs, I'm pleased with the result, but the reaction from the masses was much more than I expected.

Let's put this in perspective... We won 6 NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. One of those teams was possibly the best basketball team ever, finishing with a regular season record of 72-10. The Bears won Superbowl XX with possibly the greatest football team ever assembled, finishing 15-1 and trouncing the Patriots in the Superbowl 46-10. The White Sox won the World Series a few seasons ago, sweeping through the playoffs and losing only one of those games. The University of Illinois Fighting Illini almost had an undefeated basketball season a few years back. Needless to say, we've had our moments of celebration and joy. What I saw last night was more dramatic than any of those.

Whenever a presidential candidate won, there would be scenes of celebration for the victor as well as the moment of defeat for the loser. By the next morning, it was back to work as usual because most felt that we had just picked the lesser of two evils and that not much would be different, regardless of the outcome. Last night people were crying tears of joy, speechless in disbelief. People across the world were celebrating. Even the news media and journalists had a subtle partiality towards Obama. A crowd of several hundred thousand people stood for several hours in Grant Park to hear a victory speech. The sentiment of the U.S. and the world was one of renewed optimism and hope, not just passive acceptance. With the rest of the world's economies and well-being so strongly tied to U.S. policy, it's understandable that the world would be watching as intensely as they were. As a German diplomat once said, "When the United States coughs, the rest of the world gets a cold."

When Bush won both of his terms, I was pretty bummed for a few weeks because I felt that the "system" didn't work. I felt that the country would truly be worse off because of our elected choice. If McCain won last night, I wouldn't have really felt that badly. I think he would've done a good job as president and I wouldn't have had the the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that I had in 2000 and 2004. Considering the general ill will towards the Republican party, I think McCain was up against a lot right from the start. Indeed, many senators and congressmen lost their seats for no reason other than the fact that they had a capital R next to their name instead of a capital D.

We may not have all voted for him but it in everyone's best interest to make sure that he succeeds. Let's have a good four to eight years.