Tall Orders

At work today, someone made the comment that they were functioning with only half a brain. Most of us stayed up into the early hours of the morning, way past the election concession and victory speeches were over, staying tuned for the remaining counting and post-mortems across the major TV stations.

As thousands of editorials, bloggers and average folks on the street have said today, this country was ready for a change and now has new hope, in the form of its articulate, youthful and idealistic leader. It was so moving to see the sheer joy and relief of people attending the many rallies and gatherings across the country last night. Even if you had no TV, you could probably have guessed the election outcome by standing outside and listening to the honking of horns and (in my case) whooping of your neighbours. Like Tyler Bourbon, when I was younger, I also thought that America was just the best. Powerful, wealthy, full of opportunity, and home to some of the most diverse cities, landscapes and experiences you could find anywhere in a single nation. Hence, it's been so sad to watch this huge nation fall from grace due to such poor leadership and downright bad decision-making on the part of a very powerful few.

Let's hope that Obama's kickarse victory speech was a pledge, and not just rhetoric - so that the stain of the last eight years can well and truly be removed.