Congratulations to Barack Obama.
I am choked up much more than I thought I would be. A cheer went up around the TV in the cafe at work as he accepted the oath, and I had to fight back a tear. My brain says "meet the new boss, same as the old boss", and indeed, Obama is a politician, and I am not so enamored of much of politics and power. But the symbolism here is just overwhelming.
If you told me 18 months ago that a black man with a non-English name could be elected president of the United States of America, I would have laughed ... yet here it is. It is not just that Barack Obama is president, it's the symbolism of what he represents.
I sit here at work, watching a tiny two inch by once inch box of the proceedings streamed across the internet, with tears welling in my eyes, let me say this. I am a Chicago Cubs fan, I hope to live long enough to see them win a World Series ... but I never have thought for one second that I would utter these words in my lifetime:
Whitey is dead, and good riddance.
Long live the new king, diversity, and the strength that comes from it.
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