Happy Election Day

What an election day it was.

As I thought, there was no drama. There were no purple states. There were no hanging chads. There was something much better. History. Real History.

By 11 tonight they called the election for Barack Obama. They didn't even get around to waiting for the results from some of the swing states like Florida, Indiana and North Carolina that went Republican four years ago, and he still won.

I hope that everyone will give Obama a chance and really get to know who he is before they think about continuing to believe and spread the rumors put out there during this election. No one knows how well he will do. No one knows if he truly will hold onto his promises, but we have to give him a chance and find out what he stands for before we decide if we really like, or dislike him.

I hope the discussion of his race will be used in the right context. It is not the reason he won, but it is a historic side effect. It cannot and should not be ignored. Everyone in this country should be very proud that a black man had the chance to win the presidency. A black man who was not able to walk into the same restaurants and stores as his white counterpart, much less vote, 50 years ago. It says something amazing about this country that in such a short time, we can change our racist mentality. It should offer some promise in a country that has not necessarily been on a path that makes us proud.

I do not think his race should be used against him. I know tomorrow, or the next day, there will arguments of reverse racism. Comments that he only won because black people wanted someone who looked like them in the white house. That is completely irrelevant and not true. He is going to win by a decent margin. A larger margin than Bush won during both his elections. That is not a win because of race. I feel if ithat opinion persists it can set this country back, rather than move it forward when it comes to racism. Everyone has their own reasons why they vote for someone. He won and that is all that matters now.

I am proud that I was part of this. I'll be very proud years from now when my kids learn in school about this election and I can tell them my personal experience about where I was and what I remember when Barack Obama was elected president.