A couple of years ago I was driving home from work on a rainy day and listening to NPR. They were talking about some subject or other and they interviewed the junior Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. Obama answered a few questions and he came across as smart, well-informed, and not one to give in to rote partisan cant. "Why can’t we get a guy like him running for President?" I thought. Of course even then there was talk that Obama would make a White Hours run someday, but he’d just been elected to his first term in the Senate, he was still a young guy, and, well, what were the odds of an African-American launching a serious run at the Presidency?

Well, looks like my skills as a talent-spotter are indeed incredibly sharp. I was an Obama supporter from the day he announced his candidacy. Most of the talking heads are trying to outflower each other with their rhetoric about how this is an historic day for our country. And indeed it is. But I think that it’s important to remember that the the reason why Barack Obama was elected to be the 44th President is because…he’s a smart, well-informed guy who doesn’t give in to rote partisan cant. He ran a nearly flawless campaign, managing to defeat Hillary Clinton in the primary AND John McCain in the general election, a remarkable double play. The fact that an African-American man is our President-elect is a remarkable, almost astonishing fact, one that shows how our country’s attitude toward race is maturing. But let’s not forget the happy fact that Barack Obama has the qualities that should make him an outstanding President. To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr, I judged Obama not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. Voting for Barack Obama over John McCain was an easy decision.

And now, a picture of Ernie the Cat celebrating Obama’s victory.

He is, as you see, overjoyed.

UPDATE: That, THAT, was a hell of a speech.

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