The Greatest Day

50 Interesting Facts About Barack Obama

That maybe you didn't know! Here.

Letting It Sink In

When I think of the events that occurred on Tuesday, my first reaction is to attempt to cage the disbelief running circles in my head. How do I wrap my head around this thing? Did it really happen?

I find myself instinctively flipping my TV to CNN in moments of quiet at home. When I walk past the newspaper stands on the way to my car in the morning, their curious emptiness turns the corners of my mouth up into a wide smile. The images pervade. The thought of this new moment in history consumes me.

Let me tell you what I have learned from all of this. While my heart aches over the last eight years in our country, I am grateful for the clarity it has brought in its wake. Clarity so strong, it compelled a country to change.

I have never been more proud to be an American, on Tuesday, today, tomorrow. The pride I feel as that overwhelms me.

The way our nation has come together and the speed of our unity amazes me. It gives me faith in humanity and restores my trust in democracy. The faceless masses across the USA and around the world have united. They need no faces, they have one, and in it is the proud reflection of the United States -- disabled, but determined.

The capacity I see for hope overwhelms me. It transcends race and ethnicity, wealth and poverty, cultural diversities and border lines. If apathy is the new poison, then hope is its antidote. Barack Obama knew before any of us that hope could change the world.

And as I stare into the open face of possibility this nation gives me reason to believe we've only just begun to fight.

So continue to let freedom ring America, trust in the fact that the rest of the world has heard us.

Find out what's in store for Americans here.

An Email From My Good Friend Across the Pond

GO OBAMA!!!

Congratulations to you and THANK YOU for all your hard work! I am proud to be an American living abroad - not an ex-pat! No longer will I be the ambassador of a country that I dont even understand - I can know hold my head high and say with pride that America has made the right decision - for its own people, and for the world.

I was sitting in a waiting room this morning at 9am today in a culturally-mixed area of West London - a woman walked in and pointed at the man behind the desk (she a west Londoner, in him I detected a slight African accent of type) and said "All I have to say is OBAMA", to which he said "It's not just history my friend, it's a new dawn".

These are the conversations happening in the most banal of locations in places which are typically considered unrelated to the election of a US president. But you see just how much this election has affected everyone, and injected everyone with hope.

There is more work to do of course, and I would hope that this spurs us all on to continue to make changes in our lives and how we consider our power as individuals and collectively. We are all a part of America, and when 75% of America gets out and votes, it is clear exactly who has been in the minority all this time - those who have dominated politics for the last 50,100, 200 years.

We brought about this change, each one of us...I am very proud of us all today.


GO OBAMA!!!

If this doesn't move you, then you are dead inside.

Bill Clinton for Secretary of State!

"Barack Obama will not allow the world's problems to obscure its opportunities. Everywhere, in rich and poor countries alike, hardworking people need good jobs; secure, affordable healthcare, food, and energy; quality education for their children; and economically beneficial ways to fight global warming. These challenges cry out for American ideas and American innovation. When Barack Obama unleashes them, America will save lives, win new allies, open new markets, and create new jobs for our people.

Most important, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."

The power of our example.

Get out there and vote! There is still time to register. Check out your state's deadlines here.

Barack Obama is our next President.

I truly believe that.

Remember his words back at the 2004 DNC?

In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope?

John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope.

I’m not talking about blind optimism here -- the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t think about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about something more substantial. It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.

Hope -- Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope!

In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.

I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity.

I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair.

I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs and that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us.

America! Tonight, if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion that I do, if you feel the same hopefulness that I do -- if we do what we must do, then I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as President, and John Edwards will be sworn in as Vice President, and this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come.

The audacity of hope. I fucking love that. How dare we see a better future for ourselves? What boldness to question our current state of inertia. How brave to embrace change.

This is dissent. A notion Americans don't nearly practice as much as we should. Barack Obama is a modern rebel. He's the Billy Idol of politics! He's making you believe, isn't he?

I feel those massive steel wheels scraping and grinding on the track, sparking and revving, steam billowing. Even enveloped in smoke I can see it coming.

Choo choo, baby.