Wow.

I sat on my couch last Tuesday night, glued to the election results, watching with baited breath as each state's results trickled in. I also tracked real-time results on the internet, so I could see the percentages shift within a state in real-time. Pretty cool stuff. Then the moment I'd been waiting for: Obama had won Ohio. I knew this was a good sign...no Republican has won the presidency without taking Ohio. As 11pm approached, I could see the newspeople begin to shift their tone. Something big was about to happen. And then, as the polls closed in California, Washington and Oregon, they made the offical call: Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States of America.

I can't describe the emotions I felt at that moment in time. Relief, awe, joy, and most importantly, pride in my country for showing that we can rise above the negativity and exclusion of the last eight years. I sat on my couch with tears in my eyes, then leapt up and did a happy dance around my living room. I felt like running out into the streets and hugging my neighbors, Obama and McCain supporters alike.


McCain's concession speech was gracious, and proved that he is the man I thought he was. If only he had been that man the entire campaign (and not picked such a horrid running mate), he might have had my support.


I stayed awake for President Obama's speech, and couldn't help but worry whether some catastrophe would take this man down. But on the country's biggest night, in a sea of people in Grant Park, Obama appeared and made one heck of a speech. He set the tone perfectly: we may have won, but the hard work has just begun. I could see the enormity of it all on his face, and I trusted in his ability to motivate others to change.

I mentioned to several family members that I feel like this election, more than any other, power has shifted: from the baby boomers, to the dreaded Generation X (that's me). We're all grown up now, and it's time that we started setting the policy for this country. I made deliberate choices in the election booth, at the state and local level, to support candidates more in my age demographic. The vast majority of these candidates were in their 30s, not their 50s or 60s. These people are living my life, and will represent me better than someone who went through their 30s in the 1960s or '70s. Interestingly enough, many of these candidates won. I echo Obama's thoughts: the hard work has just begun.