"This Is Our Moment"

I am not sure if I'm speechless or if I just have so much to say that my mind can't settle on on any singular idea. I'm leaning towards the latter and because I feel like I need to just get something down in this amazing moment, I'll write a bit now and will likely follow up with a more carefully thought out post.

Barack Obama has been elected president of the United States. It is an amazing time for so many reasons and for the first time in a long time, I am so proud to be a citizen of this country. I think I cried three times last night and chills were running up my spine even more frequently. A closer election might have been more exciting and may have had me on the edge of my seat, but the decisiveness of this election was more powerful than any hold-your-breath-til-the-last-vote-is-counted election. Sure there are questions that still need to be answered, some states which still haven't been decided. I've barely made a dent in the NYTimes I bought this morning and I've done very little blog reading since I've actually been busy at work, but I'm excited to read about voter turnout, close senate races, the shadiness of GA and all the odd ballots in Florida (split arrows?? seriously??). But what I'm really excited about is how resounding the call for Obama seems to have been. As he said last night, "Change has come."

There are a lot of things I want to write about (Obama's speech, race and the election, exit polls, a new electoral map, etc.), but in the interest of space and time at this moment, I just want to mention one thing that really struck me last night as I was letting the weight of this moment sink in. I was watching NBC (obviously) and Tom Brokaw made a very interesting observation (obviously). I'm paraphrasing: He was talking about how momentous and noteworthy the election of Obama is and will be. He made the point that as huge as this is for reshaping the race problem in this country, Obama's election likely marks the beginning of a movement which we cannot really begin to grasp. What Brokaw expects is that this election will mean a shift in the mentality of American citizens towards a strong desire to engage in politics. He talked about a renewal of the drive towards civil service and the hope he has that this election will bring to Washington people who want to work for their government and work for their country. I don't know why, but this observation really hit a chord for me.

I have said numerous times throughout this campaign that I have no idea what it is like to live in a country where I actually like the direction the government is moving, where I support our president and believe in the potential for our future. This is a huge deal and although I'm not looking for government work myself, the idea that so many people of my generation and of those older than us--people who have been so frustrated with politics for so long, might feel the desire to serve our nation, to work for our future and to get involved in the process of making real change happen, is an idea that gives me (and others) real hope. I want to live in a country that makes me proud and I want American patriotism to be something which doesn't make me and the rest of the world cringe. I think Brokaw is right, and all politics aside millions of people have been inspired by Obama to get involved for the first time and I can only hope that this signals the beginning of a shift that will, as Obama said, "renew this nation's promise."