50 thoughts on “Congratulations President Elect Obama!”

  1. OBAMA IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT! OBAMA IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT! OBAMA IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT! OBAMA IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT! OBAMA IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT! OBAMA IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT!

  3. I’m watching the scene in Grant Park, Chicago, my home town!
    Red Staters: this is what a mandate looks like.

  8. Congratulations for President Obama, and to you citizens of the USA. I’m an Indonesian, and I’ve been following the election closely and been reading this blog almost everyday for the past few months. Many people, including me, have been rooting for Obama. May peace and not war be sown again throughout the world, and may the Obama administration play a big part in that process.
    GBU all.

  11. Words fail. Joy and heartfelt relief in equal measure. I can feel proud of, and hopeful for, our country again.
    And seeing the celebrations in Grant Square, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Spellman College is just… so, so sweet.

  14. Person who has most made me cry tonight: John Lewis.
    And even Jesse Jackson was crying.
    John Lewis: “We are a better people.”
    Me: we have started to overcome.
    Thank god almighty. We have started to overcome.
    And John McCain is giving his concession speech.
    We have started to overcome.

  15. Since the weekend started, I’ve been on two trips to knock on maybe 150 doors in New Hampshire – including a six mile hike through the woods of New Hampshire with a 72 year-old woman and canvassing a housing development with a blind man. I could hardly walk the morning after one of those trips – something wrong with my shoes. I’ve called maybe 500 phones. I am in no way unusual in these things. It was all worth it, and I could not be more emotional. I am so proud of the way this was won – the dignity of Senator Obama, the restraint of his surrogates, and especially the grassroots, people-powered, internet-enabled army of volunteers that made this happen. If I had done nothing, Obama would still have won, but I would think less of myself, I would own less of this wonderful day. Hundreds of dollars I donated to pay for TV ads or dozens of hours’ pay for an organizer meant less to me than one afternoon in New Hampshire.

  16. What’s scary is that a large portion of Americans will genuinely believe that their country is being led by a marxist terrorist.
    But tonight is not the time to focus on cynicism. This is a momentous accomplishment.
    Of course, as I started writing a paragraph about reconciliation, the crowd booed at the mention of Obama’s name in McCain’s campaign speech. This is why I left the party.

  17. McCain’s concession speech: good. Kudos. Urges all Americans to find good will and ways to come together. Won’t make any difference with the wingnuts, but good for that. We are fellow Americans.
    We’re on the road to becoming free at last.
    We’re finally on the first steps on the road out of Nixonland.

  18. John McCain’s concession speech seems reasonably classy. I had a strong negative reaction at the beginning when the crowd started booing Obama; and some assholes are yelling out stuff I can’t make out. But McCain is keeping them mostly in line and saying the right thing.

  20. Wow, McCain just called Biden his “old friend,” and the crowd booed wildly.
    Good for McCain for putting them down and all their “USA!” chants, little as it is. At least he’s, for a hateful and low campaign, going out decently. (Not classy; you can’t have class after letting Palin go on, but decently.)

  21. We’re finally on the first steps on the road out of Nixonland.
    I wrote almost exactly this sentence a few days ago when I was contemplating an Obama victory. Please let it be an accurate take on the political moment.

  26. An amazing night and unforgetable night in American history. Thank you so much to the millions of people who made it happen.

  27. Wow. The coming months are going to be so awesome. I hope.
    But hey ! Hope won tonight !! So let’s hope away ! Long live the President !
    McCain : I liked his concession speech and I thought he was graceful through it. Sad to see the biggest (and almost only) cheers he got was talking about Sarah Palin.
    What I wonder, is if we’ll start seeing the walkback now (cf 2000 and the confederate flag).

  28. My eyes are only damp, now.
    I was weeping. OK. I am again.
    For my dad, who would have wept and wept for joy.
    And for new hope in and for the world.
    I can’t recover the source, but earlier I read a report by someone working at the polls; crying, asked by a 97-year-old black man voting for the first time in his life: “Why are you crying? This is a night for glory.”
    (Maybe someone else has seen it and can offer the link.)

  30. New York City is non-stop screaming…
    Fitting that the home of the UN should speak for the other countries of the world in that regard. I can’t wait to see what the headlines in newspapers across the globe will look like tomorrow morning.

  33. @hilzoy : according to Matthews, the three keywords of the new administration will be “bipartisan”, “diversity” and “youth”, i.e. no retreads.
    So possibly no Bob Gates.

  36. just shy of my sixth birthday, my parents drove my brothers and i, together with a station wagon filled with young african americans to washington d.c. to watch the march on washington that culminated with dr. king’s speech. forty-five years later, i walked into a voting booth, and actually shed a tear, thanking whoever is in charge up there for the chance to vote today. i then watched all night, reminding my sons that they were witnessing history, and cried with joy when the results became official. i am a white man. i only wish my father could have lived to see this.

  39. @Gary Farber : the same thing happened on slactivist months ago. Now the only way to get rid of italics there is to get to the next page.
    It seems to be limited to firefox, though.

  41. When I was seven or eight, one of the junior ministers in my church, in sleepy London Ontario, announced that he planned to travel to the American South for the freedom summer. My parents believed deeply in justice; our boycott of South African ran from Sharpeville until deKlerk called multi-racial elections. So I got a quarter or so together, put it in an envelope, and gave it to him. I know the gesture touched him, because he said so.
    Tonight, I went to a celebration in Dundas Square, Toronto, of the election of President Obama. Young people waved the Canadian and American flags together, something that I have not seen as an affirmation offirmation of an American political development in my country for a long time.
    Whatever comes, I want to remember this moment. Our societies, our nations, our people, can affirm each others moral achievements, and challenge each other to reach further, to exceed our accomplishments.

  45. Am I right in thinking that this is an usual reaction to an election? Crowds of over a hundred thouand out dancing in the streets? Am i right that Obama got indiana and North Carolina? And might get Georgia? This is a freaking blow out.
    Obama’s speech was…differnt than the usual victory speech. More sober. More like an announcement of a beginning. I mean it is normal to talk about morning in America and starting down a new road blah blah but Obama’s take was differnt. It was more about empowering a movement to take charge and make things happen all over the place. I like it that he came right out and said that the electin wasn’t about electing him. It is about all of us getting out there to make changes we need to make where ever we are.
    Crowd os thousands celebrating in Canada. how cool is that?
    Well old cynical leftie that i am i always have to look for the down side; we aren’t getting as many house seats as we hoped for.
    Still there is no way to spin this except as a sea change in American politics. We didn’t just win. We won big. And the victory is everybody’s. I mean everybody who wants to move forward and be constructive.
    Yeah.
    Paul popped a champaign cork off our deck and we smoked those very special cigars that we’ve been saving up from our last trip to Canada.

  46. I, too, am so happy. There won’t be a take-away this time!
    Probably this happened in lots of places, but right now Seattle is rocking with celebrations filling the streets.
    The places where WTO 2000 descended into a riot had champagne spraying everewhere. My daughter who then was afraid of the riots today went out into the celebration for a while. (Back then I reassured her that the gangs in our neighborhood would keep the rioters away. 🙂 It’s great to see the kids like her so jubilant.
    Last night I saw a pro-Obama ad from a 527 where Paul Simon’s “American Tune” connected photos of our recession (or worse). The pitch was that our nation needs change. This ad was emotionally powerful. I was glad to be reminded of American Tune, including its ending…
    “Still tomorrow’s gonna be another working day.
    And I’m trying to get some rest.
    That’s all I’m tryng, to get some rest.”
    McCain and Obama both reflected how much or nation is in a hole and how badly we need to find a way out together.
    Good night,all.

  48. CONGRATULATIONS ON THE GREATEST VICTORY ON PLANET MOTHER EARTH. AS AN INDIAN CITIZEN I FEEL SO CONNECTED TO YOU AS A FELLOW HUMAN BEING. LORD HANUMAN HAS BLESSED YOU AND GIVEN YOU THE VICTORY SO VERY WELL DESERVED ON TUESDAY WHICH IS THE DAY OF THE WEEK WHEN ALL HIS DEVOTEES PRAY TO HIM FOR STRENGTH WISDOM, COURAGE,& BLESSINGS.
    GOD BLESS YOU AND GOD BLESS AMERICA. I AM YOUR ARDENT SUPPORTER & WELL WISHER FOR LIFE.
    JAI HANUMAN.
    WARM WISHES.
    RENNU DHINDSA.

  50. … “I dream of a day when a man will not be judged by the color of his skin but by the strength of his character”…
    11/4/08 is the most prolific, historic statement that was ever made by the well intended majority of the American people.
    I’ve always been glad to be an American. Today, I am truly proud to be an American.
    Michael Love, Greenbrier, Arkansas, USA!!!

Comments are closed.