Over the Hurdle

"Excuse me while I go HIVE FIVE EVERYTHING" - @JephJacques, Twitter

"Just as I was saying I was afraid to believe it, the screaming started. Outside, on Santa Monica boulevard, right in the heart of boystown, people were cheering and car horns were going off in the most beautiful cacophony I’ve ever heard. Mom and I stepped outside to absorb it all, along with the cold night air. She turned to me in all that wind and noise to say: “Do you believe it now?”. I almost began to cry." - Zoetica Ebb, Coilhouse: A Squeal of Joy in the Night

"I expect to see a surge in childbirth around August 4, 2009." - @Badmanbadplace, Twitter

"The jury is far, far out on Barack Obama. He is un-tested, un-tried. Yet I cannot recall a man I've seen take office, since I first became aware of politics in 1972, about whom I've felt a greater sense of hope. He has an advantage no one since Ford has had; that is, following a leader universally reviled. But unlike Ford, who fell into leadership, Obama was chosen by a significant majority." - Karl Elvis, A Dark Age Nears Its End

I am, most definitely, a happy girl today. I slept like a freaking baby last night, and like many Americans today I feel like a great weight has been lifted. Mainly because I know that now I don't have to go out into the streets to wage protest against a system gone terribly wrong. Frankly I think I'd rather have a zombie apocalypse than face a new day where McCain was President-elect, because I could at least feel a glimmer of hope in the event of zombies.

Makal and I watched election coverage live online last night, at one point dual-weilding both CBS Live online (so sue me, I like Katie Couric's banter) and (muted) FOX news on the television set. We turned the latter off once they started airing the footer that the McCain campaign had just given FOX word that there was no way they could win--anything after that would have just been grumpy Faux news reporters. But we watched and we fidgeted nervously, we took shots of sake whenever something seemed worthy of a shot ("Red state turned blue!" "they talked about change!" "woo Obama!!!" etc.) until we ran out of sake. Mostly we stared with apprehensive awe as we watched history unfold. For our generation, the 2008 elections are on par with the 9/11 tragedy as far as history goes, but today is a far happier day than 7 years ago.

To which I just have to say: Worst. Eight years. Ever.

It wasn't exactly surprising that Obama swept the polls... what I was more worried about is some plot twist, some loop hole brought about by Bush or Big Brother or McCain that kept America from realizing its victory. I guess it's still not too late for that. Paranoid much? Quite, yes; like I said, I really didn't feel up to rioting in the streets today. But as Karl said in his post, we're not there yet. We can't just relax and go back to our daily blissful ignorance and not continue with as much fevered energy as was needed to get this deal sealed.

Now is when the real work starts, for both President-elect Obama and for the citizens of America. Now we have to make sure that we make it easier for Obama to affect the changes he so eloquently preached--and the changes we want to see ourselves. And we have to make sure that 2012 sees as much of a turnout as this year's historic election.

Are politics "cool" again now? In the face of social networks, live Internet news, and grassroots campaigning, will the White House evolve into White House 2.0? Either way one thing is sure: America is not going to simply "change". America is set to revolutionize itself and the world we live in today. I can't wait.