A merica has spoken.  All over the land, there were shouting and screaming, celebrating and partying, crying and weeping with joy and happiness.  People said: “It’s a dream fulfilled. It’s the dawning of a new era. America has spoken.”

Okey ngarud, I am with that.

Here in Seattle, an African-American lady said, “Obama is Moses to us.  We have been waiting 200 years for this.”

Another said, “It’s an Earth-shaking moment for me.  As a black person, we vote for everybody else but we get the short end of the stick.  We’ve cried the same cries.  We have the same heartbeat . . .”

The Washington Post says that the 2008 election is the result of a “coincidental marriage of a powerful personality and a terrible political and economic environment . . . and to deny that would be to deny reality.”

      And another said, “This will go a long way toward healing the open wound that is racism in America. This was Dr. King’s dream – to have someone in the black community to represent us, and bring the races together.”

Okey ngarud, I am with that, too.

In a phone call, minutes after polls closed in the west of the United States, Sen. John McCain congratulated President-elect Barack Obama, then delivered his gracious concession, saying to his supporters, “We have had and argued our differences, and he had prevailed . . .”

Yes, sir, Senator, I hear you.  You’ve fought a good fight, and I honor you for that.  You’ll always have my respect and my admiration.  In my heart, you’ve won this fight.  As we, warriors of America, have said over and over: “It’s not how you lost the fight, but how you fought the fight.”  And you fought honorably and valiantly, sir. 

President Bush, speaking at the White House, said, “Many of our citizens never thought they would live to see this day.  This moment is especially uplifting for generations of Americans who witnessed the struggle for civil rights with their own eyes – and four decades later see a dream fulfilled.”

Okey ngarud, Mr. Bush, we hear you, too. 

I do like Mr. Bush.  I think he’s a good person.  HE TRIED SO HARD….  And it’s sad to say that this election was in many ways a referendum on him, who polls show is the most unpopular President since 1930, because of his handling of the economy, Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The McCain-Palin rout, according to The Washington Post, is the result of a “coincidental marriage of a powerful personality and a terrible political and economic environment … and to deny that would be to deny reality.”

“Senator McCain fought a good fight, and I honor him for that.  He will always have my respect and admiration.  In my heart, Mr. McCain won this fight.  As we, warriors of America, have said over and over: ‘It’s not how you lost the fight, but how you fought the fight.’  And you, Mr. McCain, fought honorably and valiantly.” – Jesse Jose

THE WORLD IN AWE: And there’s no denying that this powerful personality, Barack Obama, this juggernaut, this Moses, this Caesar, if I may say so, is being hailed, not only in America, but also all over the world for wresting the bull by the horns, so to speak.  And may I also say that it was a mighty way to wrest that bull by the horn.  It left the world breathless and in awe.

From the cafes of Rome, to the streets of Kenya to the town in Japan, named Obama, people chanted, “Obama!  Obama! Obama!”  The world seems to view Mr. Obama’s election victory as a “transformative event that could repair the battered reputation of America, lift the aspirations of minorities everywhere and renew the chances for diplomacy rather than war.”

In Japan, they said, “Americans overcame the racial divide and elected Obama because they wanted the real thing: a candidate who spoke from the bottom of his heart.  I think this means the United States can go back to being admired as the country of dreams.”

In Bangkok, a man said. “What an inspiration!  He’s the first truly global U.S. president the world has ever had.”

In France, a woman there said, “This is the fall of the Berlin Wall ten times over.  Today, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes.”

So all over this great land and all over this great wide world, people are celebrating, hailing the new Caesar.  Here in my own little corner of world, among my fellow DOMs and cyberspace friends, emotions were also high.  We wept … not because of victory, but perhaps because we saw an era slid by before our myopic, bespectacled eyes.  Hear us also, please….

From Don Azarias: “I have to admit that I shed a few tears as the impact of Barack Obama’s victory begins to sink in.  It’s not because I dislike Obama.  He seems to be a likeable guy.  But it’s because I like John McCain better.

“How could you not like a war hero whose love and loyalty to his country had remained undiminished even when he was a POW in North Vietnam and had every reason to be bitter during the time of his captivity where he was tortured and placed in solitary confinement?

“My heart bleeds for John McCain.  It will continue to bleed for a long, long time.  At his age, he lost his last chance to prove his ultimate love for his country by serving as president of the United States of America.”

From Ed Navarra: “My phone has been ringing off the hook since the media declared Obama as President-elect.  They (the callers) have been analyzing, commenting, and then crying on why this happened.  Don, dugo ang niluluha ko dito.  I am sure God has his intentions why this all came about.  Let the passions die now.  Meantime, no matter how difficult, we must go on with our lives.  This will all come to pass, like kidney stones.  LOL.”

From Jesse Farrales: “My dear friend, Don, you said it perfectly well.  I sympathize with you.  We have the same mind set on this political issue.  But at this point, let us pray that our new president will be serious in his promise to initiate the real CHANGE that will benefit the entire nation and not just selected sectors.  Let us just embrace the positive outlook for our nation and for everyone.  Take care, my friend.”

From me, JJ: “Pareng Don, I feel your pain.  But like my Bestpren, Yoly T. said, ‘America has spoken.’  The MAJORITY, the fifty-two percent of America, that is.  The forty-eight per cent of America has spoken, too, but with a different lingo and voted for John McCain.  Like you and me and those millions of others who sang a different tune, we bleed, yes, we bleed….

“For now, let’s lick our wounds and stem the bleeding … and join up with the victors.  We are all Americans, them, the victors and us, the vanquished.  The day will also come when “them” will become the vanquished and “us,” the victors. 

“As Ed said, ‘Let the passions die now.’  You know, like when you just made love to a beautiful woman, you lay back down to rest to catch your breadth and to savor the afterglow of that FIERCE and INTENSE and FORCEFUL and LUSTY bout of love.  Pretend it was that kind of love, Pareng Don, and you won’t bleed no more.”

From Martin Celemin: “Hi Jesse.  You aroused me by your advice to Don – “fierce, intense, forceful and lusty”!  If Don follows that, he would forget the election all together.  I’m sure he must have smiled and you brighten his forlorn condition and bleed no more.”

Yes, indeed, America has spoken.  Hail, Barack!  JJ