History

Barack Obama is president-elect. I got home halfway through his speech. His words were pretty as usual, but the thing that really touched me was the intense, profound hope they inspired in the faces of the audience. Their elation, their yearning for the realization of Our potential, was instantly my own. Obama can't be the president we want him to be, because he's human. But I pray he can justify the emotional investment America made in him tonight. That he can be the reconciling force he aspires to be, that he can govern with wisdom and compassion.

I feel peaceful, happy. I hope I don't think that naive in the future.