I want to express my warmest congratulations to all our African-American DUers on this historic day.

[Skinner]

There is so much to say about this election -- I have so many thoughts and feelings in my head that I am having difficulty putting it all into words. I think it might take a day or more for me to write something that comes close to expressing everything that I'm feeling right now, if I can do it at all. Fortunately, that post can come later. Today, I want to say this:

Congratulations to all of the African-American members of this community.

I wish I knew a better word than just "congratulations." I spent some time trying to come up with a better word, but nothing really fit. No word seems sufficient to express my feelings: Wanting very much to acknowledge your triumph, to share in your elation, to feel what you feel right now, and to let you know the gladness I feel for you. While at the same time recognizing that I have no clue what you must be feeling right now.

As a white man, I have been able to take for granted that for more than two centuries, the president of the United States has always looked like me. As a child, when people told me I could grow up to be anything I wanted, I had no reason not to believe them. It was something so obvious and pervasive that I never had to even think about it.

I cannot imagine what it feels like to grow up in a country where the president never looked like me. Where all the available evidence led me to believe that the president might never look like me. And then one day, against all odds, he does.

To quote President-elect Obama's speech last night:

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America."

America, united. Finally.