I think I may have just watched Barack Obama win the presidency.
I find it amusing that people have made so much of the differences between the Democratic candidates. I want to see one win, but I will be the first to admit that the Republican primary is far more interesting, offering as it does real choice and variety. The differences between the major Democratic candidates, by contrast, from Biden to Obama, have seemed to me more a difference of style than substance.
The Republican Party is wrestling over a new definition of conservative, threatening to fracture. By contrast, it seems to me that the major Democratic Party candidates have been fairly aligned on a change in direction.
And then, I watched Obama give his speech tonight. Wow. He made the other candidates look like amateurs. "We are the change we have been waiting for," is a line that could land in history. (And have I been asleep? Has he - or someone else - bandied this phrase about already?) This man can speak in a way that makes emotional seem reasonable and vice versa. [And it turns out that I heard this wrong. Obama actually said, "We are the ones we have been waiting for."]
And, thanks to slouching mom, I saw this video made of one of Barack's speeches, underscoring my point that the man can inspire. (Well, in this case with a little help from will.i.am and a host of others.)
