Barack Obama Will Be Our 44th President

I had to wait until this morning to write this post. I wanted to make sure I woke up and it wasn't all a dream.

Barack Obama will be our 44th President of the United States!

I sat and watched the results until midnight local time and actually cheered when it happened. As soon as John McCain announced he had called to concede the election to Obama, I knew it had to be a dream come true.

Here it is in a nutshell:

Obama won 28 of the 50 states with over 63 million votes (52%) and received 349 of the electoral college votes (well above the 270 necessary). If that is not a landslide, I don't know what is.

This is a landmark day for our country. We have made our voices heard and will now have an administration that will bring us out of the economic and social slump we have been in for the last 8 years.

It's also telling that we have finally (in many areas of the country) moved beyond the old racist beliefs and have voted the first black man in history to the highest office in the land. Personally, I don't care what color your skin is, your gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs (although I don't think that should be major factor in your agenda) or what your ethnic background may be. If you are the type of person who is intelligent and think you can make a difference, I will vote for you. And, that is what the majority of Americans said in this election. They want change and they feel that Obama will bring it.

More good news - The Democrats picked up a larger majority in the House of Representatives. They now number 259 to the 176 Republicans. They also picked up more seats in the Senate with 56 seats to the Republicans 40. There are still 4 seats that are undecided in Minnesota (Al Franken), Oregon, Georgia and Alaska (Ted Stevens, who was convicted recently of corruption). All four of these races are tight and likely will result in run-offs, but there is still a chance one or all of them could go to the Democrats and give them upwards of 60 seats for a theoritcal filibuster-proof majority.

Also, I have to give credit to the good people of South Dakota. Even though they went for John McCain, they didn't go for one of the most draconian anti-abortion amendments. Measure 11 would have prevented women from receiving abortions even in the case of rape or incest. This same amendment was rejected in 2006 by a 10 point margin. Hasn't the whole abortion issue been decided? Rowe v. Wade anybody?

And, the people of Colorado also voted down Measure 48 which would have defined a fertilized egg as a legal human being and could have outawed all abortions and even some forms of contraceptives.

Now, the bad news - The Associated Press reported earlier today that the following State Constitutional Amendments passed:

California - Proposition 8
Arizona - Proposition 102
Florida - Amendment 2

All three of the above now ban same-sex marraige (I prefer the term "same-gender marraige) and have written into their state constitutions that marraige is "only between one man and one woman". I won't get on my soapbox about this subject here, but I will address it in a future post.

Now that this painfully long election is over, we can begin to look forward and analyze the choices President-Elect Obama will make for his cabinet and his administration. I for one can't wait. It will be a breath of fresh air after the last 8 years. So long Shrub!