Salt of the Earth

Last night, Sen. Barack Obama defeated Sen. John McCain in the climax to the most epic and meaningful election in modern times. Tallying over 330 electoral votes, Sen. Obama won nearly two-thirds of the electoral college's vote for a landslide victory for the first African-American president elect. Here in Philly, we hit Broad St. We do this every time something exciting happens, you see.

This wasn't the Phillies rush-and-riot, but it was so much happier. The joy was tangible, thick in the air, an incredible feeling of lightness circling my head. I was consumed with observation, checking the Obama signs, the chants of "USA!", the spontaneous signing of the Star-Spangled Banner. Patriotism was hot in the air. For the first time in my political life, I could be proud of the man who would be leading the country, and I'm sure that feeling extended outside of me.

I saw Obama speak on the news, give his victory speech, and I nearly cried. This man, this man is capable, intelligent, passionate and understanding. We need massive upheaval in this country, a near revolution, and the only thing strong enough to change the current system is the system itself. Hopefully, Obama will give us that. Hopefully, this man will bring us change, bring us home, bring us back to what we're supposed to be.

When I woke up this morning, I couldn't believe it still. I laid in bed and looked up at my glow-in-the-dark-star covered ceiling, half-grinning and half shaking my head. My mother called me so we could shout over the phone, and told me there was a party in every room at her office. "You've never seen so many happy social sciences people," she told me. I've never seen so many happy Philadelphians. As one woman yelled last night, "This was the best seven days in the history of Philadelphia!"

I don't want to believe this will be good because I'm afraid of being let down again, because I know the government in s a class tool, but like I said before, this feels good. Tomorrow, America just might fall apart, but for once I hope it doesn't.