This historic moment

Before I move on to obsess about what we need to do next as a nation, I should pause to acknowledge just what this moment means.

It wasn't just about Barack Obama's election last night. It was about the day. It was about the process. It was about the illiterate black man to went to his polling place with help from a friend to cast his vote. The middle aged man in Los Angeles who waited for hours in line to vote because, as he said, this time his vote mattered. It was about my 18-year-old cousin, a white girl from an exurb who voted for the first time yesterday and will never know a time when a black candidate wasn't entirely possible.

But it was very much also about The Win. About the young woman who fell to her knees and sobbed upon hearing the news and whom a cameraman, to his credit, held on for solid minutes as this moment sank in to all of us who understood. About the children of all colors who will know as absolute fact that they can be anything they want to be in America. About those few who fought in the darkest days, men like John Lewis and Jesse Jackson, who had no real right to think that they would ever see this day and who, thankfully - so thankfully - were there to usher it in and remind us what the human cost of this journey has been.

We are a better country today. We are the fulfillment of our promises. And we are poised to make it mean something.

Now get to work.

Another Senate seat in the blue column

According to the Oregonian tonight, Jeff Merkley (D) wins Gordon Smith's (R) Senate seat. You'll recall that Smith garnered national attention running ads that failed to mention that he was a Republican and went further, touting his work in the Senate with Barack Obama.

Turns out that ain't blue enough for Oregon, even in an election where, surprisingly, many Republicans held on to their Senate seats with incumbents largely hanging on to their seats, despite Congress' nadir approval ratings.

Zombies for Obama

Feeling a little empty now that the election is over?


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Bill Ayers speaks

The man who was quite possibly the most disciplined character of this political season, "unrepentant terrorist" Bill Ayers, finally spoke to a reporter yesterday. And - would you believe it? - turns out he's actually... repentant. Could ya have guessed? Could ya? Huh?

Here are some choice bits:

"Pal around together? What does that mean? Share a milkshake with two straws?" Ayers said in his first interview since the controversy began. "I think my relationship with Obama was probably like thousands of others in Chicago. And, like millions and millions of others, I wish I knew him better."
...

Asked Tuesday if he wishes he had set more bombs, Ayers answered, "Never."

He also said he had regrets.

"I wish I'd been wiser," he said. "I wish I'd been more effective. I wish I'd been more unifying. I wish I'd been more principled."