Jubilant. Relieved. Grateful.

Well Germany’s over the moon about our new president-elect, and the weather’s playing along – it’s like May out there, 68° and sunny. I am happy too, but also… so very sleepy. When 5 a.m. rolled around I decided I was too tired to hold out any longer, but just then McCain came out and made his concession speech (incredibly gracious and honorable. Respect, dude), and then I wasn’t tired anymore. Then I had to wait for Obama’s speech (also excellent) and then the WA governor results (yesss! Clear enough for ya, Rossi? Now go crawl back under your rock and don’t come out until you’ve developed a decent education policy).

I got to bed at 7 this morning, got up at 10 because both of my sons had overnight guests and that’s when the noise level was enough to penetrate my fatigue. Now the house is quiet, but the bedroom is on the sunny side, and I’ll never get to sleep in there. Maybe I’m too excited to sleep anyway.

Song du jour of the day: Yes We Can, by Barack Obama and will.i.am

let it be

I didn’t want to get all political, but I have some time to kill before the polls close, so.

Look, I don’t think he’s the messiah, but he is a sign of changing times. I know people are skeptical that he’ll be able to keep all the promises he’s made. But look at what he’s already done.

The last eight years have seen an administration wrap itself in the flag while systematically destroying every single ideal that that flag stands for – every one. We’ve shown the world a face that is arrogant, reckless, thunderingly hypocritical and baselessly self-righteous, all the worst things that people in power can be, the schoolyard bully magnified into a true monster. That attitude has done a lot of damage, and I don’t think Obama, or anyone, can undo all of it. Certainly not in four years, maybe not even in eight.

But look at how our attitude has changed. Instead of arrogant, reckless and autocratic, we now have a serious candidate who is circumspect, thoughtful and inclusive. Even Americans are starting to see what a leader should be in a dangerous and complex world.

Remember Bush’s performance in Hurricane Katrina? Remember how the whole disaster took him completely by surprise? That’s because he surrounded himself with sycophants and yes-men, and nobody would give him any bad news for fear of losing their jobs. He labeled himself “the Decider,” but he was pathetically uninformed, by his own choice. That’s the difference. Obama may make decisions that I don’t agree with, but they will at least be carefully thought through and based on solid information.

It’s like a sunbreak on an overcast day: nothing has changed significantly yet, but it all looks so different, and from here we can find a way to keep the promises he’s made. Yes, we can.

Song du jour of the day: The Times, They Are a’Changing, by Tracy Chapman, h/t Slacktivist.

ETA: it’s nearly 4 a.m., and I’d like to stay up to get the West Coast results because they have a very tight and very close race for governor in Washington, which is my home (la la la…) state. But Ignatz has to get on a train in eight hours, and I seem to have dislocated my coffee. That is, I knew where it was, but now I don’t know where it is. Also I seem to be diminiminishing vocabularily. Dang, it sucks being a grown-up.