This morning, November 5th 2008, I find myself in a small coffee shop in Cleveland awaiting a ride back to Brooklyn, NY.  Everyone around me seems a bit tired but throughout the room you can hear genuine excitement and people discussing last night’s historic election.  It’s an exciting day to be an American, and an even more exciting day to be an Ohioan.

I may not have been able to watch the election with my peers and dance in the streets of Brooklyn after Obama’s victory, but I was able to watch the election in the state I grew up in and I was able to see the people I grew up with change their course.  I was able to cheer on Obama with my parents and grandparents, together representing 3 generations who spoke out for change.  I was able to know that in my county, amongst all of the people I spent 15 years of my life with, that I made a difference.

My county (Lake County) has always gone Republican (which is somewhat surprising considering it’s proximity to Cleveland but nonetheless). It’s something that has always frustrated me and colored my thoughts about where I grew up.  This election however, by a mere 345 votes, Lake County voted for Barack Obama. Knowing that between the doors I knocked on, the folks I called and the doors I hung polling info on, that I contacted well over 344 people is an exciting feeling. It’s a feeling of actually being able to create change (a feeling I lost dramatically while working on the Gore campaign in 2000).

I may have sat quietly on my family’s coach, with only my mom in the room as Barack Obama was announced President-Elect, and I may have had to keep quiet because my father was sleeping, but the pride I felt could have filled the entirety of Grant Park.

I’ve had so much cynicism about the world over the past 8 years that it was hard to think about allowing myself to feel good about my country.  It was hard to think about having hope. It was hard to even think about the prospect that things could better - that people might get health insurance, that the war could end, that poor people could actually be people considered in the President’s agenda.  But now, even I feel hopeful.

I know that Obama’s victory is not the end all be all though.  Our country is not in a good place and we all need to work on making it better - meaning we can’t just sit back now that we’ve spoken. We need to continue to speak and work towards the change we want to see. We need to be vigilant in our efforts to be politically active, to work on a grassroots level and to fight against complacency.

For now though, I can only hope my friends back in New York City saved a little energy and will grant me the belated cheering and running around in the streets that I so desire.

takepart to spend your morning reading the good news And in case you need some motivation due to lack of sleep, watch Obama’s speech below: