Notes on a historic day
I created this blog in September, 2004, and since then there has been a running countdown of the number of days remaining in George W. Bush's presidency. Just two months later, I had to add 4 years to the countdown, on what was one of the longest nights of my life.
As of today, I'm proud to make a change to that countdown. Instead of counting down the remaining days in the Bush presidency, it now counts down the days to the inauguration of President-Elect Barack H. Obama of Illinois.
At about 2:23am GMT this morning, the call came over the wire that Senator Obama had carried the state of Ohio, making the historic election of this thoughtful, remarkable man a near-dead certainty. Superstitious as I am, I hesitated to accept it. But I allowed myself a brief moment to weep at the enormity of the moment.
As an expatriate American for the last 8 years, I have known the incredulity of the world at the ability of such a great country to elevate a man like George Bush to an office of such honour. But as I wake up tomorrow, I'll wake up for the first time in a long time proud of the political decisions of my countrymen (and women). I'll wake up ready to speak out that my country, capable of great selfishness and myopia, is still capable of great things, impossible achievements, and still has a few tricks up its sleeve.
Now that it's official (or at least officially projected) I sit here weeping, watching images of people around the world celebrating at this incredible moment. And there in my tears lives the one thing that started this journey for me, with this man, who I'll soon be able to call my president: Hope.