Me so happy, me want to cry!

Obama won. He won the election and all the world over Americans seem a little bit less retarded than we have over the past 8 years. CNN this morning showed Spaniards reveling in the victory, Germans inviting Obama over for parlay, and even the nuclear savvy numb-skulls in Iran made a statement about coming to terms (not that they haven’t done that 1,000 times before but it seems more significant this time).

Great, I’m pretty happy. I’m happy McCain didn’t win more than I’m happy Obama won as my personal politics always seem to greatly contrast in one way or another with both candidates. I’m also happy the rest of the world will stop thinking all Americans are hot-dog-eating cow-herders who lynch black people and enslave the Chinese (or vice-versa).

However, I’ll be damned if the idiot press wasn’t tripping over themselves last night talking about “our first black president” and “isn’t this great, we’re not racist!” and “I actually cried so hard I puked, and then ate my puke for it was the puke of sheer joy!”

Obama won because he was a better candidate. Not because he was black. He was inspirational because he’s got a solid head on his shoulders and appealing policies and he’s educated. Not because he’s black! If the press keeps emphasizing the most shallow difference between Obama and McCain, I’m afraid Americans haven’t come very far at all. We haven’t been racist for a long time now (most of us anyway), in fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve never been racist.

I’m not saying this isn’t significant for American History, it definitely is and it definitely seems like America has turned a corner – but we’ve been working on turning this corner for a long time and this election is just the milestone that says “we did it, we’re here, and we’re ready to start changing other things too.”

My favorite part about Obama’s speech was emphasis on the fact that we still have loads of work to do. That is the biggest thing to take away. This is only the beginning of change – not the end, or the outcome, the beginning!

So my friends, please join me in congratulating our first, intelligent, well-spoken president in 8 years, and the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. Now, let’s roll up our sleeves and start whipping ourselves back into shape!