Glory, glory, glory!

I knew that we had won when CNN called Pennsylvania for Obama. The Keystone State was McCain's last, desperate grasp for victory, and it wasn't even close.

Ohio went for Obama a short time later and the penultimate nail was driven home.

My anticipation grew as I watched the various pundits calculating various electoral combinations, trying to piece together something even remotely plausible for a McCain victory.

But as 8pm Pacific time loomed, with polls closing on the west coast, and with Washington, Oregon, and vote-rich California all hued the deepest of blue, and with Obama already sitting at 207 electoral votes, we all knew what was coming. For the McCain campaign, it must have been a sad eternity, waiting for that axe to fall.

When the hour finally came, I stepped out on my front porch and yelled at the top of my lungs. "Glory!"

The United States has crossed an historic threshold by electing a man of African descent to the White House; a man with a Muslim father; a man that is the product of an interracial marriage; an eloquent, thoughtful man; a deliberate man; a leader.

The GOP is crushed and humiliated. It will be interesting to see how they respond to this defeat. Will they do the soul-searching and painful self-examination that will put them on the road to recovery? Or will they seek external reasons for their defeat in some fearful attempt at denial? As it stands, the Republicans come away from this election as a rump party; a regional party of the Deep South, consisting mostly of Confederate state males. For all our sakes, I hope they grow out of it.

But tonight, I choose to savor sweet victory. We've won. You, me, Democrats, progressives, liberals, moderates, and even Republicans (though they might not know it). We've won! We've won! We've won!

There is a hard road ahead. Dark times are upon us and the night will be long. But day will come again. Working together, we can't lose. We've won! We've won! We've won!