A Day I'll Always Remember

November 4, 2008 TUESDAY

I am at the Pelham Civic Center at 6:15. The line is not as long as I expected. I am done voting by 7:15.

I start watching TV around 5 before any polls are closed.

Indiana is close early so there is no early projection.

CNN says early that their exit polls show that the 61% of Americans say that the economy is the number 1 issue. That’s a strong early sign that it will be a big night for the party of the people. The second biggest issue is Iraq, and Obama wins that issue!

Around 7 states start being called as expected. No upsets early.

At about 7:15 comes projections that Obama will win Pennsylvania. How big this is!

Kay Hagan destroys Liddy Dole in N.C. That is great. This is the seat formerly held by segregationist Jesse Helms.

Just before 8 CNN calls Alabama for McCain.

At 8 comes the predicted New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

At 8:15 Georgia is called for McCain. I was hoping that Obama would be more competitive there.

I watch my TV while Moyna is in the bedroom watching hers.

Mitch McConnell wins reelection in Kentucky. That’s too bad.

At some point ABC calls Ohio for Obama. It’s over around 8:25. For all practical purposes, it’s over. How satisfying. I’ll stay up to watch Big Mac’s concession speech.

We hear that the McCain party in Alabama is in Mountain Brook. How appropriate.

Occasionally I flip to FOX and I laugh and laugh at those fools literally babbling over their crushing loss.

There is talk of the damaged brand of the Republican Party. I love it! I have despised the Republican Party for 40 years. I’ve waited 40 years for this and I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

At 8:36 ABC calls New Mexico for Obama. Big!

At 8:37 CNN calls Ohio for Obama.

It’s over for Old Man McCain. Maybe he should quit the Senate and move into assisted living. Cindy can afford it.

Lindsay Graham wins reelection in South Carolina. McCain’s buddy Graham returns to the Senate. He and McConnell are my most despised Senators.

At McCain headquarters in Phoenix the TVs are turned off as Hank Williams, Jr. sings for the losers. He sounds so mournful.

The American people want competence finally over identity politics, sham and Roveian division.

The people didn’t buy the McCain maverick bit. He’s just another Republican and would merely continue the Bush policies. That’s the truth. They didn’t buy the lie that McCain would bring change. The people weren’t fooled.

Obama outhustled and outworked his opponent. More important, he outsmarted his opponent, and he took advantage of McCain’s mistakes, the biggest being the selection of Palin, not being able to separate himself from Bush, and foolishly saying just before the Wall Street meltdown that the fundaments of the economy were strong.

The base of the disgraced Republican Party is mostly in the former slave-holding states.and a few Midwestern states. It is no accident that the Old Confederacy is the center of the Republican Party.

You compare the Republican gathering at the Biltmore Resort in Arizona and the throng at Grant Park gathering for Obama. It was in Grant Park in 1968 when the Democrat Party fell apart. This is sweet, sweet revenge. Democrats meet in a park; Republicans meet at an expensive hotel and in Mountain Brook. I go with the party of the people.

THE HUN GOES DOWN TONIGHT!

THE REAL AMERICA IS THE DIVERSE CROWD AT GRANT PARK. MCCAIN AND PALIN’S REAL AMERICA OF JOE THE PLUMBER IS FADING. If the Republicans have any sense, which I doubt, they’ll take down their White Only sign.

At 9 CNN calls Iowa for Obama.

One of the GOP apologists says it’s over. You bet it’s over!

Obama is a centrist. Even Republicans are saying tonight that the usual Republicans nonsense about Obama being extreme and a socialist is not true. Duh!

The youth vote goes strongly for the party of the people. This bodes well for the future of the party and spells doom for the GOP.

Evidence shows that Obama has taken the Democratic message to the suburbs. The Republicans are fading in the suburbs. Margins in the suburbs are trending strongly Democratic.

We cannot say that this country has transcended race, but this is a big step forward---a HUGE step forward. This win by Obama does not erase the stain of race from our nation’s history, yet we must celebrate this great happening.

David Gergen says a new order is emerging in this country: people of color, the youth vote, resurgent progressivism. Obama understands this; McCain is clueless. Whitey can’t win by himself anymore.

But the white male voters in the Confederate states are still here. Take this demographic away, and the GOP might as well relocate to Alaska.

The people this year demanded change. What Obama had to do was to reassure the voters that he could be trusted and that he was ready to be Commander in Chief. Mission accomplished. Everything he did was always smooth, calm, and reassuring. He ran a brilliant campaign.

AT 10 P.M. CNN PROJECTS THAT OBAMA WILL BE ELECTED. WHAT A GREAT MOMENT! WHAT A GREAT MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY!!! I AM SO HAPPY.

A man of the people, a man of color, a Democrat will be the next president of the United States.

We see joyous celebrations all over the country.

Freddy calls and we jointly celebrate on the phone. How wonderful. Yes, I never thought I would live to see this day. It’s unbelievable.

John McCain gives a gracious concession speech. I give him credit for this. McCain kindly mentions Obama’s grandmother. This is the first good speech I’ve ever heard McCain deliver.

Let us hope that the country can come together.

Republican Ed Rollins says that Obama ran the best campaign he’s seen in 40 years of politics. He did not make a single mistake. He ran a modern campaign, combining organization with the internet and other technology. He has a list of volunteers that any other candidate would kill for.

It’s a new day in the United States of America.

We cracked the sound barrier as a country tonight.

David Gergen makes the point that with the additional states that Obama gained over Kerry in ’04, he will go to Washington as a national president. This is a victory of the masses, not a narrow liberal victory. Of course, Obama will govern as a centrist, which he always has been.

McCain’s country of Joe the Plumber is obsolete. On TV I am watching celebrations all over the country including in front of the White House. It’s like New Year’s Eve. We have overcome.

The body politic in this country has changed overnight.

Just before 11 p.m. here comes the Obama family before the hundreds of thousands in Chicago. What a moment! We see the new President-Elect. It’s electric. I wish I were there.

Change has come to America says our winner.

The President-Elect delivers an inspiring speech. It’s time for a new spirit in this country. It’s time for change. It’s time to get going.

A new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

I listen to this speech and all I can say is “WOW!” It is stunning. It’s a new day in the United States of America.

I go to bed tonight proud and happy for my country. It’s great to be an American.