We did it.

No, I’m not just talking about my fellow Barock stars. Although – holy shit! He won! President Bobamba! (as Colin calls him)

I am not a politically proficient writer. I can’t really articulate why I feel the way I do about the issues I support and oppose, and forget about doing it verbally. I posted a blog the other day for about three hours about politics and I took it down. But I am proud of our country. Until about two hours ago I’ve been afraid to hope. It's 8:30pm, I'm on the couch, Colin is asleep, Rob is in Vegas and Barack Obama is our next president.

44 times we have transferred power peacefully. No guns. No riots. Presidential assassination is rare enough to be horrifying. Regardless of who you voted for, you were protected in your right to vote. Regardless of who you voted for, you have participated in an historic election. This is the first election in my life that I have paid attention to the power of division, and the power of unity among both parties. This is the first election where I didn’t feel like I was voting for the less of two evils. Both candidates had aspects that I agreed with. McCain, all over-used words aside, was a maverick in his time, and potentially could still be. Obama inspires hope, and guarantees that change will occur.

Some will say that hope is not a reason to vote for someone. Or that change is what we need. But I disagree. The greatest of our past presidents inspired hope on a grand scale, and they were transformational leaders – taking the country from where it was into the next stage of what it could be. FDR, JFK, Reagan. Hope is not the only reason I voted for Obama, but I look at Colin and I hope for…so many things. I feel like we can finally start to move in the right direction.

Now that the election is over I hope that McCain will live up to his mavrickness and help build bridges. I hope that President-elect Obama proves without a doubt that we’ve made the right choice. And above all, I hope that Colin will someday look back on these words and know that because of him, I hope.