Once again, proud to be American.

So I tried to write a funny post about Barack Obama winning the presidency and just couldn't do it. I tried writing an Onion-esque article poking fun at the fact that all of the sudden, every SINGLE person with a mouth and a microphone, no matter what they said prior to election day, just can't get enough of our new president. But I just couldn't do it. I tried to play this whole thing down, but it didn't work. I know it's got something to do with the fact that I'm an incredibly unqualified author. But I'd like to think it's also got something to do with the fact that I'm so damn happy, and proud, and excited about what's gone on in the last 48 hours that I just can't trivialize it, even if I tried.
I'm going to describe it the way I heard it described earlier today, and pardon the language, but it's just bar none, the most effective description I've heard yet.

"It feels like we f***ing blew up the Death Star."

I LITERALLY could not have said it any better. I've tried. And this is the best. Think about that scene in Return of the Jedi, when the Ewoks, after recently emerging victorious in their ground battle, look up at the where the Death Star once was in their sky, but has been replaced by an enormous expanding ball of flames. Then they all begin to rejoice at once, and it cuts to other cities throughout the galaxy, all rejoicing at the same time, over the same event, and their collective hopes for a more peaceful and productive future. In one amazing, powerful, joyous instant, all of their lives had changed for the better, and that invisible, heavy burden of the Dark Side had been lifted from their shoulders. There will be a better tomorrow, and as the Ewoks knew it then, every nation on our planet, on this day, rejoiced together, as one human race, because we all know it now.

Barack Obama is not a perfect man, and he will not be a perfect president. But he is many things that we can ALL get behind. His intelligence will lift our struggling nation up and get us back on a pragmatic, positive path. His elegance and wit will make him and the US a leader of other nations once again, and America's respect will be restored. His passion and dedication will demand respect from all the world's leaders - friends and foes alike. And his race, as much as it has been covered in the media, IS true proof that anyone, with any background, any skin color, any personal difficulties, can do ANYTHING in this great country of ours.
Last night I had the absolute privilege to celebrate with Mr. Obama himself and 250,000 of my closest friends at Grant Park. While being too crowded, uncomfortable, and incredibly draining physically, I will never forget the moment that the announcement was made that he had made it over the 270 vote hump. An infinitely deep bellow was let out by all of us there, and as we were all screaming at the top of our lungs, jumping up and down, dancing with each other, smiling, crying, and trying to capture it all on our digital recorder devices, nobody was thinking about the last 8 years of tyranny and secrecy. Nobody was thinking about the problems that await Mr. Obama when he takes office next January 20th. Nobody was thinking about the deception created by George Bush and his divisive Republican cronies. We were in love with America, in love with our new president, in love with the new, positive world we live in. And we couldn't put this into words, so we just cheered, cheered, cheered. I'll never forget that night, and we can all feel so lucky that we are alive to have witnessed an achievement so great, not only for Mr. Obama, but for our country and our planet. If a black kid from Kansas with a funny name can become president of the United States of America, then why can't you or I do anything we want to do? Of all this talk about "hope" from his campaign, he's gone out and proven it. He's shown us. You ALWAYS have hope.

I'll finish with the video from the very moment his victory was announced.