Joan Walsh (11:51 p.m. EST): Goodnight, Glenn. Thanks for doing this -- live-blogging was Glenn's idea! What would we have done without you?
A few of us will carry on for a while. I'm sitting here waiting for Obama's speech, and then I'll head over to Gary's party, and maybe join kressskin in drunk-blogging over there.
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Glenn Greenwald (11:50 p.m. EST): As I'm currently in a time zone three hours ahead of the East Coast, coherence is not in ample supply at the moment, and this will therefore likely be my last post for the evening.
Two last bits of good news: Two of the most wretched, genuinely hateful members of the House -- Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado and Virgil Goode in Virginia -- appear to have lost. The defeat of Proposition 8 in California would be an ideal way to cap the night.
More generally, this is a smashing repudiation of the hideous right-wing faction that has wreaked so much damage on the country, and an obviously historic night as well. But this is merely the first step, with much work remaining, for reversing what has been done over the last eight years.
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Gary Kamiya (11:47 p.m. EST): Do you believe in miracles? Yes!
I'm hosting a party right now. Like so many people, I had to be with family and friends tonight. Some things must be shared with the people you love. We're in a state of delirium, disbelief and joy. We knew since Ohio was called that he was going to win, but that was abstract. When they finally called it for Obama, the dam broke loose.
So many years of pain and exile and frustration ended. So much hope released. A black man president! A progressive, smart, compassionate man! And after George W. Bush! Only in America could this wild reversal take place. America, your possibilities are restored.
When it was clear Obama was going to win I spoke to my mother, who is 78 years old, who didn't dare to believe even this morning, and when I heard her voice I started to cry. My son called from Sarah Lawrence, and I couldn't hear his voice, the students gathered under their big tent were so loud. Young people are celebrating everywhere. Youth is here. We have made history. We, the people. My people. Our people.
The laughter and the shouts are echoing up from downstairs, and all across the world.
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Joan Walsh (11:35 p.m. EST): John McCain just conceded to Barack Obama, "the next president of the country that we both love."
It was a nice speech, even acknowledging the death of Obama's grandmother. He recognized the historic importance of Obama's victory, and "the special significance that it has for African Americans, and the special pride that must be theirs tonight."
That hit me wrong: A lot of us have a special pride tonight. A lot of people have made eradicating the stain of racism their life's work. A lot of people saw the promise of Obama's candidacy for our country. A little more respect for Obama during the campaign would have gone a long way, but it was a fairly classy speech -- punctuated by a few unfortunate boos and "Nobamas" along the way.
The body language between him and Sarah Palin was interesting, she was standing so far away, I didn't realize she was there for a while. They barely hugged after his speech. Todd was right this morning, they'll be back in Wasilla tomorrow. But not for long, I predict.
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David Talbot (11:15 p.m. EST): The Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco has erupted with wild cheers, blasting car horns, firecrackers. A racially mixed crowd has poured into the streets, including my teenage sons, Joe and Nat, and their white and black friends. Someone is blaring Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" out the window of their house. A change HAS come, America. It's all of our country again. Over and out. I'm joining the crowds.
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Joan Walsh (11:14 p.m. EST): Chris Matthews is giving me a tingle up my leg right now. Really.
I criticized him for the way he treated Hillary Clinton during the primary, and there's no doubt he was unfair to both Clintons. But sometimes, when he goes off, it's awesome, and he just went off on the meaning of Barack Obama as president, and Michelle as first lady, and Malia and Sasha as the children in the White House that was, well, lovely.
NBC just called it for Obama.
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Joan Walsh (11 p.m. EST): OK, we've mainly been watching MSNBC but my friends watching CNN -- particularly my friend kressskin, who's drunk-blogging election night for us -- keeps talking about various CNN "holograms." I thought they were joking. Now I'm watching will.i.am as a hologram, made to appear like he's in the studio with Anderson Cooper. He's standing in a little pool of light, looking not quite there, like a Star Trek character in the middle of being beamed up. It's horrifying, and not just because I was creeped out by will.i.am's "We are the Ones" -- he should have stopped with "Yes We Can."
Anderson ends the interview by saying, "Thank you for being with us via hologram." This is creeping me out. If the folks at Fox see this, they'll blame Obama and think it's hologram socialism. This is not change I can believe in. Please stop, CNN!
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