God Bless America.
Her citizenry came through, turning out in record numbers at the polling stations in city and suburb, in red and blue states alike, throughout this great nation.
She pulled the lever as if with one hand, voting in Barack Obama to be her next president.
The modern-day Moses whose daunting task it is to lead this great nation out of the shackles of underachievement and towards our great destiny.
No one of this generation will ever forget the evening of November 4th, 2008, especially that electrifying moment when the race was called.
At my election night party on W106th Street we erupted into wild cheering as we stood around the television. "Wait...is this real? Can we trust this??" I asked my host, afraid to believe that yes, we did overcome.
"Yes!!!!" he shouted. "Yes!!!!! We did it!!! Obama won!!!!!"
Obama's victory set off the cheer that was heard around the world. In an instant, my far-flung family -- HOBB and Middle Babe in Grahamstown, South Africa, Big Babe in Berlin, Little Babe watching from our Columbia U apartment -- was united in real time.
Watching with his American friends in Berlin, Big Babe shot me a text: "He won!!!!!!" Little Babe called me on my cell. "Obama won!!!!" he shouted into my ear. And, as promised, I called HOBB on his cell though it was 5 am. Sleepily, my husband said, "Omigod!! Wow!!!!!Mazel Tov. Say a shehechiyanu."
The Jewish prayer that is recited at firsts.
The message of last night's historic victory is that hope is stronger than fear.
Barack Obama, welcome to the White House.
America -- congratulations on a job well done.
Baruch atah adonai, elohainu melech haolam, shehechiyanu, v'keymanu, v'higianu lazman hazeh.
Blessed are you, O God, ruler of the world, for sustaining me and keeping me alive to witness the wondrous events of this day
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