Well, not quite undeniable enough - I have to say that I turned it to another network to verify. I mean, you never know with those guys.
Shortly afterwards John McCain came on live from the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix to give his concession speech. He was gracious and admirable, with commentators saying the McCain giving that speech was the McCain that people liked so much, and the one who won the hearts of millions in 2000.
Cindy McCain looked far more distraught that he did, with a stoic face, holding her hands in front of her. Palin's eyes glistened a little - she looked removed up there to me, standing several feet away from McCain, with little affection shown towards him with her body language (great blue suit she was wearing, btw). She showed almost as little affection as Cindy had for the man - or maybe it was the other way around. He patted both his women on the arm in a half hand shake, half hug attempt. Makes you wonder, what did they do after that? Did they go up to the suite with their top staffers, advisers and immediate family and have martinis? Or did they all just part ways, wash their faces, put on their pajamas, take a percoset (not intended to be a cheap shot - if anyone needed a percoset I'm sure that was the night for it) and lay down in bed with few words?
In Chicago it was a different story. Over a hundred thousand packed Grant Park to see President-Elect Barack Obama and the First-Family-Elect Michelle, Malia and Sasha take the stage about midnight (11 Central) to mark the moment. Looking out in the crowd, cameras revealed young and old, black and white and all shades in between. I was moved to see Jesse Jackson visibly crying, and Oprah Winfrey standing in the crowd among the masses. (On second thought, I'm sure she was in a VIP section). The crowd was so invigorated, so jubilant, so proud. I sat there and watched every minute of it, and was moved to tears myself as the historic night came to a close. I even looked up Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech and read it for some perspective.
It was only 46 years ago that Dr. King delivered that speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. To read the entire speech, unlike listening to the audio, you get a different perspective on what the situation must have been like for blacks at that time. When you take away the preacher's resonant, emotive voice, you get a clear picture of how unfair life was back then, dismissed by the privileged. No wonder you heard over and over today how many people had never voted in their entire lives. They've never felt like they were a part of the whole. To think - we're talking 100 years AFTER the civil war, when Dr. King and the civil rights movement came to the forefront of consciousness in the US. Even after getting the right to vote, it still took another 50 years - give or take - for people to feel they mattered enough to exercise that right. That alone should be reason enough for every citizen to vote on election day. To make excuses like - I just didn't have time - or - my vote doesn't make a difference - it's ludicrous to not exercise the right to vote. Just imagine what it would be like to have that right revoked?!
Today on talk radio and talk tv everyone was telling their story - how most people "never thought they'd live to see the day..." - the reality is that Obama won because people want someone in the White House who's positive, rational, and will be a catalyst for the change we need. He inspires something in people that most politicians don't - he inspires people to be the best they can be. Personally, I can feel it in myself already.
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