…all of us.

Last night, the US elected Senator Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Despite what feels like a wicked cold kicking my arse, I stayed up to hear both his acceptance speech and McCain’s concession speech. Rather than stooping to certain people’s levels, let me just say the contrast couldn’t have been starker. It had nothing to do with who won and/or who lost. It absolutely reflected what sort of person each man has shown himself to be. One was graceful, elegant, dignified and truly (IMO) tried to reach across every barrier in our country. The other was the single most passive-aggressive speech I’ve ever personally witnessed. I’ll let you decide which is which.

And here in Colorado, the news was…mixed. US Congressional District CO-02 now has the first openly gay Representative in our state’s history. Jared Polis ran a clean campaign from beginning to end. Most impressively, neither side mentioned Polis’ sexual orientation; the attack ads focused on 1) the fact that he’s a successful businessman who is a millionaire and 2) his support for charter-public school partnerships. Best of all, during his acceptance speech he introduced his partner by name and brought him up on stage. I cried like a baby.

There were a number of ballot initiatives and amendments this year; we had the longest ballot in the US, with 18 different issues on which to vote. The one I’ve been following the closest, Amendment 48 (the one that would have defined a zygote as a fully functional human being in a court of law), went down in an incredibly spectacular manner. Not just in flames, but with a rocket burying it in the damn ground. The other ones I’ve been watching, sad to say, were also defeated; Amendment 58, which would have ended state subsidies to Big Oil/Gas companies for the privilege of taking Colorado oil from our lands, and Amendment 51, which would have provided money for services for the developmentally disabled.

I also hear that in CA, Proposition 8 passed. Just shows how far we have to go in this country. This won’t be the end of the marriage debate, nor should it be.

We all have a lot of work to do in the years ahead. The Worst President Ever has left our country in a gigantic fscking hole. The hole is most likely bigger than any one person can fill. But, at least we have a start. A President-elect with a functional cerebral cortex, a wee glimmer of hope.

And for those of us who check off “other” when they fill in their race, we can tell our children that yes, they too can be President someday.

UPDATE: I cannot believe I didn’t mention this before. D’oh! Our newest US Senator from Colorado is…Mark Udall. Oh, Senator Udall has such a nice ring to it. His acceptance speech last night was pretty great as well – it was incredible to see how excited and happy his family was, especially his wife. Very cool.