On the night of November 4th, I laid in bed and listened to something I had never heard before in my life -- the sounds of spontaneous celebration. Yelling and drumming and honking and cheering. One guy going down the street honking, Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep. My brain immediately supplied the words -- Yes we can, Yes we can . . .  It was tough to sleep with all that hope and excitement in the air.

I was privileged enough to see President-Elect Obama's speech live on TV; it was the first time I wasn't forced to wait till the next day and depend on transcripts or jerky YouTube videos. (You can read his speech here -- the page includes a video link, and if you use it, I hope your transfer rate is better than mine!) It was just the kind of speech I've come to expect from him: dignified, gracious, hopeful and forward-looking. I found a couple of places where he's restating things that have been said by others, and found the "church-style" read and respond ("Yes we can!") kind of amusing, but it sure does work for firing up the crowd! A great speech, overall, and a really high standard to set for oneself in a brand new job. A lot of us will be keeping an eye on him to see how he measures up to his promises.

There are a lot of people out there right now that are frightened out of their wits -- they've been told for months that if Obama gets elected their country will go right down the toilet almost immediately. I was very glad that Obama was thinking of them: "And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too." They'll see eventually that their worst fears -- and the fears their leaders pumped into them -- aren't coming to pass. Terrorists won't wind up in the government, there won't be welfare handouts, the country won't be given away. But it won't be an overnight paradise, either. Obama was right to call for more work, and a spirit of sacrifice. (I heard Kennedy's "Ask not..." bit in my head during this part of Obama's speech; he'd probably be pleased at the analogy.)

So I reveled in the joy of my neighborhood on Election Night. There's a new hope, a new spirit that maybe we can finally get something done around here to make the country the nation of freedom and enterprise it was always meant to be. Yes we can -- if we work at it. No resting on laurels allowed! Let's go!

[I woke up the next morning in a much fouler mood, upset about the way that things were reported that night; if you're interested in my rantings and ravings, you can read them here.]