"America came of age tonight"

[Waiting For Everyman]

That's what somebody on TV said, I don't remember who. Very true. America grew up. What's interesting is, nobody planned it. Barack Obama wasn't elected because he's an African American. It didn't happen for the purpose of breaking barriers, but because he's the person with the skillset and the ideas we need now. He's simply the right man for the right time, regardless of color. It's incidental. MLK Jr.'s vision literally came true - it's the content of his character.

That's very much as it should be. It's right that when it happened, it wasn't planned to happen - or that would've made it an empty gesture, and not actual maturity. We never thought about that in advance, but it really needed to be kind of accidental or incidental... taking us somewhat by surprise. As John Lewis said, he never expected it in his lifetime. Neither did the rest of us. We just knew the right choice when we saw it. Obama matched the moment and we knew it. America grew up when it was time to, and nobody knew when that would be. Nobody could hurry it, to be.

So tonight, I'm thinking that it's pretty cool that I got to see America grow up - it's kind of like getting to see the first 4th of July. This campaign in itself, sort of felt like a coming of age too. The lies stopped working - who would've thought that would happen at the beginning of the primaries?

Good night, all. It was quite a night. :)