Yes, He Did

Barack Obama won much tonight. He won Colorado's peaks and Iowa's farms. He won Key West and the coves of Maine. He reached into the South and won the capital of the old Confederacy. At the moment of this writing, he's in position to win North Carolina, yet another bastion of that slave republic. And at the moment of this writing, the dark-skinned product of an interracial mariage is in position to win the state where the Klan reached the apex of its power.

He has won for himself the responsibility of fighting the myriad problems besetting his nation. He has won for himself the task of ending a disastrous, unjust war and the task of rescuing from oblivion another. He has won for himself the right to squarely face a financial crisis of monstrous proportions.

He has won for all Americans the promise of hope. He was won for all Americans a triumph of idealism over cynicism, of striving over cowering. He was won for all Americans the right to look their children in the eyes and tell them, "In this country, any child can grow up to be president." He has won for Americans a dream of promises fulfilled and potential reached.