Yes, we did.

I think Gerald Ford said it best: "Our long national nightmare is over."

Whether you are happy with the outcome or not, this is world history. Not just American history. World. It has been less than fifty years since segregation and discrimination were the norm in this country, and now we've elected a black man President. No country with a white majority has ever been governed by a non-white person. Marinate on that for a while.

This election has helped restore my faith in America - or should I say, Americans. There was no "Bradley Effect." This wasn't your typical Democrat vote - blue in New England and the West Coast with spots here and there in the Midwest. Even in states he lost, Obama did much better than Kerry did in 2004. This said two things to me: many Republican voters are just as dissatisfied with their party as I am, and most white Americans don't have an inherent problem with voting for a person of color.

Can Obama live up to the immense hype that has built up over the past two years? Maybe not. Hell, probably not. But he can begin the process of repairing our damaged reputation with the rest of the world, and I think that is a pretty good start.