Proud to be American

...and proud to be a Chicagoan. I have never felt such an intense desire to be back home, and it hit me the hardest while driving over the bay bridge last night to celebrate with my girlfriend. This hit me on the San Francisco Bay Bridge, of all places.. I wanted sooo badly to be running to the red line stop to get on a crowded el, get off on Monroe or Jackson and join the masses heading to Grant Park... This was like the Bulls winning any of their six championships in the 90s... the Bears in 86.. I was there for that.. this was so so much more.

Now, this isn't to say that all of Oakland and San Francisco wasn't set afire with car horns and elated celebratory shouts and cries.. You could feel the air pressure change from every SINGLE person giving out a HUGE sigh of relief at about 8:01. I happened to be just leaving my shift at the station at 8 pm, as that was when the California polls closed. Just as I was driving past the courthouse I voted at 11 hours before, I immediately heard car horns, yelling, shouting... the most celebratory sounds I have ever heard in my life. The election had been called. Barack Obama is officially president elect.

I ran home, grabbed some things, and head over the bridge to SF, just in time to catch Obama's acceptance speech on 9 giant screens where my girlfriend and some friends were downtown SF. It was probably the most remarkable event of my life.

I am, most certainly more proud of my country now than I have been for at least 16 years. We finally as a moral majority, recognized that our country was headed in the wrong direction with foreign policy and economic issues, and we voted in strong numbers for change. and in the process, as a nation overcame racial differences many of us feared could prevent Obama from having a chance at office... but we stuck with it because from the beginning, we agreed with his intents and his thoughts and his solutions. We've got a winner, here America, look at the reaction from the global community. Lets all get behind this man and if we criticize him, lets criticize his solutions and provide an alternative that's better and make it known productively. This nation has a long road ahead of it and it will take a lot of cooperation to drive this nation in the right direction.

This is a landmark in American History. A complete turning point. Way to go Barack. I knew right from 04 that you were the spirited leader this country needs. I am so proud of you, I am so proud of my country. Now lets go and get to work. We've got a LOT to do.