Random Reflections

• After Pennsylvania, I started to relax a bit... after Ohio, I opened the champagne.
• Some TV commentators on NBC, I think, seem befuddled with exit poll info claiming 30% of the White SC voters who had listed race as a very important consideration went for Obama. What is so difficult to understand here? I believe people of good will do not select people because of race, but all things being equal, isn't it natural to root for the underdog?
• When will our politicos learn the lesson of letting candidates just be themselves? McCain's concession speech was marked with such honor and grace it took me aback. I've often wondered if Al Gore and John Kerry had demonstrated their real personalities -- as opposed to strict adherence to scripted talking points -- what a different decade we might have had.
• Let's hope Sarah Palin finds a talk show on some Fox cable channel and doesn't emerge as the replacement senator from Alaska on her way to 2012.
• Let's give it up for Howard Dean, David Plouffe, David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel and the rest of the team. Holla!
• Can we all admit that its okay to recognize that Harvard educated liberals are actually a lot smarter than Joe the Plumber? Could it be the time for the anti-intellectual crowd to lose its cache? Two of our least educated presidents (Lincoln, Truman) engaged in life long pursuits of knowledge.
• Watching Obama addressing the crowd - indeed, the world -- from Grant Park was beyond inspirational. Quite a different tone from the last time I was happy about a presidential race; the 1992 dancing on the governor's mansion lawn in Arkansas to the strains of "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow." Don't get me wrong -- I'm still a huge fan of BC (despite his low moments during the primaries) -- but this guy ("Him") seems thoughtful, serious and truly motivated to lead us to the kind of change we covet.
• Speaking of the Clintons, I would have liked to have cut away to them for a check-in last night. I hope they are serious about working with the new administration. I love thinking about what a Clinton/Carter ex-presidential-ambassadors-at-large tour could do.
• I confess that I breathed a small sigh of relief when I realized he was speaking from a podium surrounded by what I assume was bullet proof glass.
• Not everything can be perfect. Admit it, Michelle's dress was a real Chloe Sevigny moment. Can't win them all.
• Barack's comment on making good on his puppy promise was what made me cry. And I don't even like animals that much.
• Running around today and engaging in small spurts of short talk with both strangers and acquaintances has been amazing. I haven't felt this connected to "my fellow Americans" since the days after 911. I hope we don't blow it this time.