What follows is a long, bloated post of inane ramblings (as TV is distracting) and stitched-together references to movies and other media. Unfortunately, I did not inherit or learn the writing skills of my grandfather. Considered yourself warned.
Where do we... begin (reference #1).
I guess the first thing to note is that America elected a black person to the office of President of the United States. When I was a kid, I never thought I'd see such a thing in my lifetime. Even two years ago, in my early 20s, when I saw the first Time Magazine issue to have Obama's face, I thought, "heh, that would be pretty cool to see." It doesn't hold the same importance to me as it does to black Americans (how could it?), but I do feel proud that this country has been able to move even further away from such a wretched, horrible past.
But what is really inspiring, to me, is to see that the American Dream is still alive and well in America, that someone can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and become president. That with hard work and perseverance, you can achieve the highest office in the country. And what's inspiring to me is that people can come together and still have a voice in this country, that we don't have to choose between candidates purely propped up by lobbyists. What's inspiring to me is that the same coalition of people has been able to defeat the Clinton political machine and take down the Republican Smear Machine. It's a great feeling, that this was a defeat by a landslide.
There are so many people to thank for this. The Clintons, for dragging out the primaries, and getting people tired of all the association stuff. The McCain campaign, for running it into the ground.
For all those who dedicated their time, thank you. For every single person who phone-called, drove to states, and spent hours upon hours a day working, knocking on doors, and doing the hard work at the grass roots level, thank you. For every person that donated their money to help the campaign, during the primaries or during the general, thank you. For everyone who voted for Barack Obama to become president of the United States, thank you. And thank you, Barack Obama, for making this all possible, for making me believe in all of the above. I was cynical about the process, when I assumed it would be Giuliani vs. Clinton back a year ago.
And now we can go back to life, at least for the time being. I've only been following this for 9 months, I know many more have been at it for longer and with more fervor. And, man. The future sure looks bright, despite all of the problems going on now.
Anyway, looks like Obama's on. Thanks again everyone. And congrats, President-Elect Barack Obama.