Come January it will be President Obama!

We ate left overs from two nights ago (ribs) and followed the vote counting on TV. Elfida kept Maiko up to date by phone on the electoral votes from each state. I was ready to ask Elfida if she was ready to go upstairs, when they suddenly announced that Obama had won the election. It is crazy that they would know the results before the popular votes were counted. Then we hear the TV talking head say that Sen. McCain had already called Obama and conceded the election.
It certainly was a historic night. Sen. Obama will be our first African-American President!! It is finally coming true that any little boy or girl can grow up to be president of this great nation. Makes me prouder to be an American.

The following photos and text are from the CNN website.

McCain called Obama at 11 p.m. when polls closing on the West Coast gave Obama the electoral votes to become the nation's first black president.
Obama thanked McCain for his graciousness and said he had waged a tough race, according to Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs.The new president-elect told McCain that he was eager to sit down and talk about how the two of them can work together. "I need your help, you're a leader on so many important issues," Obama told McCain.
In his victory speech to the nation, Obama said, "I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. ... I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead."
"While the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress," Obama said.
"To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn -- I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too," he said.

"We have come to an end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly," McCain said. "Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and his country," said McCain, calling Obama a "good man."
"This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight."McCain urged his supporters to "join me in not just congratulating [Obama], but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited." "I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America. In a stronger, better country than we inherited."

"I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America."

Me again:

Now that is the McCain I admired for years. This last year, he was a totally different man. His campaign was too similar to Bush's, too negative, too unlike him.

Tomorrow is a new day and a new era has come to be. We will have some trying days ahead. We still have the economic crisis, the war in Iraq, the same greedy CEOs running most of our major corporations, too many of our own government agencies spying on our own citizens, and the high crime in our cities, but there's a new sheriff in town. I hope he will be able to unite this country so it can once again be the bench mark that other countries measure themselves against.

Oh yeah, and maybe Joe the Plumber can go back home and quit being so annoying. : )