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Well, this Tuesday night was certainly historic for many reasons. Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America. Personally I am extremely proud of the country for the level of democratic involvement this year - there was a very high voter turnout, possibly exceeding 62% according to an ambiguous WSJ article.

I am also proud that we will have a professor of constitutional law as our president, who seems to understand the role of the president as the executive, who carries out and executes the will of the people, and is not “the decider,” as it were. It’s also nice to have a Vice President who understands he is not the leader of the senate. See, our country was founded by some excessively intelligent people who debated and theorized and figured out a system of democracy that is truly genius, with a balance of power and safeguards against tyranny. It’s only fitting that we should expect our president to share that understanding.

I believe Obama will be a good president. Indeed, our standing in the world has already improved, and that’s a good sign. Time will tell if he can live up to the expectations, but I have hope that someone who understands just how diverse and complex this country is can have a chance to bring it together to its full potential.

Anyway, here in Berkeley, the people rejoiced and danced in the streets (literally) with joy. It’s amazing to see Real Americans ™ happy and proud for their country again for all the right reasons.

Sadly I’m ashamed of California for passing Proposition 8 - a ban on same-sex marriages. I believe the only difference is in knowing real people who it affects, and treating them like the human beings they are. I know society will welcome this equality someday (young voter statistics make that impressively clear), I just don’t understand why it must be delayed at the expense of so many people.

Someone’s watching from a webcam up there.

And down here… proof of technological advancement. This is normal now.

O-bam-a, O-bam-a

Fireworks, and smiles all around. This was such a happy pleasant mob, easy to walk around in, very courteous.

See the whole album here.

It was a great thing to experience so many people happy about their democracy. I think the world is proud of us, and we should be too. Thank you to everyone who voted, and don’t forget - democracy does not stop at the ballot box. Keep on caring about your country and having the courage and perseverance to help lead it in the right direction. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, and in case you forgot (like I had), you can make a difference if you put some energy into it. Thank you.