Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Bending History In A New Direction

David Ignatius writes:

The word “historic” is surely the most overused in politics, but tonight we saw what it really means. MSNBC had the good sense to just watch the crowds for a few long minutes after it called the victory for Obama at 11:00, and those are the images I’ll remember as long as I live: The jubilant young African-American men and women at Spelman College, literally dancing for joy, weeping in wonderment, in some cases falling to the floor, blown over by the force of that historic tide. Or the diverse crowd at Grant Park in Chicago, jumping and hugging each other in jubilation.

I remember similar images from television footage the night the Berlin Wall came down: Young people dancing in the streets, embracing and singing as they tore apart that hideous barrier, brick by brick. Obama had it right when he said the real agent of change tonight was “you” -- the millions of people who had formed the human tide that elected the first African-American president; who, as Obama said, put their hands on the arc of history and bent it in a new direction. An unforgettable evening; words truly didn’t do it justice.

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