President Barack Obama

How fucking cool is it write that? Turns out I needn't have worried. Truthfully I was apprehensive about the American public's capacity to focus on the issues facing this country and ignore the noise. But score one for for my fellow citizens.

I'm exhausted, but over the next couple of days I'll try to put together some thoughts on what it was like to be in Grant Park tonight, with 125,000 other people, cheering for a candidate that maybe not everyone believed in at the beginning, but who we gradually infused with our hope for a better future. I'll tell you this, the call by CNN on the big screen TV that Obama had won came suddenly after a commercial break at 10 p.m. Central Time. The crowd where we were standing, near the Petrillo Bandshell, erupted in shouts and whistles and hugs, along with shouts of "O-ba-ma, O-ba-ma" and "Yes we did!" People were jumping up and down; groups of people bounced with their arms around one another, flashbulbs popped. It was as much a sense of relief as it was joy that swept across the crowd in Grant Park. Relief that Obama had won and relief that the result was known relatively early.

I'm filled with optimism tonight. The historical magnitude of what's occurred will take some time to sink in completely. But the emotion of it all hit everyone in Grant Park upside the head immediately. It's good to feel ... good about the president again.

The Indignant Citizen