From your heart, tell us what today means to you?

I don't have the words to express how much today means. It's more than getting rid of bush. Maybe someday I can put to words how much of an emotional impact today has had, but for now...express yourself about what today means. What does President Obama mean to you?

accountable.

Positive vibes everywhere today. The feeling of hope is overwhelming. I haven't felt this proud of my country in a long time.
:patriot:

that we have a real President, and America can "lead" again!

Okay ..... replay Rev. Dr. Lowery's remarks.

At the rate he was alienating people around the world, Obama just got in in time!

It means the end of the glass ceiling in politics for black men.

It means one more crack in the glass ceiling for women.

It means the chance for peace and prosperity.

The Dark Cloud is gone.

For the past 8 years, there has been a dark cloud over my life because of how horrifying I've found my "leaders" to be, and my constant fear of what they were going to do next to us or to the world. I remember how happy I was when my child was born in 1999, how hopeful I was for his future with that surplus Clinton left us, then how stunned I was when those Republicrite thieves stole my country in December 2000. For 8 long years, even during happy moments, I've felt the oppression of a Dark Cloud over everything I see. A constant oppression. Disbelief that no one has held them accountable for their crimes, and no one ever will. No matter how I scrubbed my house, it remained dirty because of the things America was doing in my name with my tax dollars. Everything on this planet had a greasy film over it. Greed. Death. Hate. Theft. War. Truly through the looking-glass. This was not the world I wanted for my child.

Finally, today, that awful cloud is gone! I feel able to breathe again for the first time in 8 years, and to experience genuine, deep happiness knowing that we are in safe hands. There is a long road ahead -- we will likely be in pain at least through the END of 2010 -- and things are very bad here in Michigan (mine is a Big Three family), but it really is *enough* for me to know that someone in power has a brain, has fresh ideas, and truly CARES about the country and about the people's suffering. I am not a worshipful "fan" and I disagree with some of his actions, positions and appointments, but I feel hope and rebirth with this day. He's someone my son can be proud to have as his president. For the first time in his young life.

Am I going to cry now every time I hear "Hail to the Chief" played for Obama??? Because so far, I do.

he has a future to look forward to.

It matters, because I've spent the last 8 years explaining to my son that what he is seeing is not normal, explaining to him what America's true ideals are (even when we don't always live up to them). He is a very politically interested child (how many 5-year-olds listen to a 10-minute Kerry speech and then ask you pertinent questions afterwards), so Obama's election is of tremendous import to him today. He is so excited! This kid was born a liberal from his first intake of breath. It is so satisfying to raise a kid who cares about politics and the world.

I wish you all the joy and happiness with your son that I have with mine.:)

As a white women, a transfer of the implied privilege that should have never been implied from centuries past. A privilege that has cost the torment of far too many for far too long.

:cry:

inclusive gene, I think I was born with it. Every once in awhile since Kennedy's assassination, I've been shocked at myself for the anger, resentment, division in my heart at the theft of my country ever since. I turned on all those I thought responsible for stealing my country little by little (inclusding the character assassination of the Clintons).

The thefts I speak of are plenty and wide. For decades I tried to say I was an Independent which for me was my own personal center and a bow to inclusiveness. Little by little I became more bitter starting with Iran-Contra. I cheered the Dems and cautioned and fought against voting Indpendent in 00 and 04. In the last 16 years have been unbearable, especially when I had to add Dems to the list. I want change. I want my old country back with the progress we were making, too slowly, but sometimes fast.

Yes, I want change. Please don't let him disappoint anyone. My best example, I resent seeing so much of D Feinsten today (her thefts - many, the worst ones are the killing 'war' and the loss of privacy and her fight for the culprits). I need help. I am a candidate for an uplift of hope therapy program. The momentum of theft will be hard to turn around. We need to help each other.

The most important thing it means to me today is that we have FINALLY voted for a person of a minority heritage. I am so blessed happy. A person of a heritage that we owe much to and who have suffered too much have survived to this glorious day. Now, to thrive. Yes, blessedly happy.

watched a "brown person" (their words) just like them become President of the United States and that I can look them squarely in the eye and tell them that anything is possible. It means that my son and my daughter will take for granted that someone who doesn't look like them can be President, my daughter more than my son...he's 14 and she's 3.

For those of us who are older, it means that our Forefathers were right. We may have had moments of doubt and fear, but in this moment they were proven right.

It means that our values and our liberties are a much tougher than maybe we thought they were 8 years ago.

And it means we can move on from this day stronger and smarter and more wise.

We may not be perfect, but dammit, we're trying.

It is the end of an era. The end of an error. I graduated High School in 1982 and have spent my entire adult life struggling under "Reaganomics" and all the variations of that tragically flawed theme. I hope and pray that that way of thinking can be swept away, or at least marginalized over the coming years. I hope we can launch a new "New Deal" for the common people in this country so my daughter can have a chance at something besides the kind of mind-numbing struggle so many of us have had to live through.

to even be able to put into words.

I was explaining to my 18 year old this morning the incredible societal changes I've seen in my lifetime. Remembering seeing newscasts as a child in the '60's, of civil rights marches in Birmingham and Selma. Being aware of the racism expressed in my own Northern city. Being part of the second wave of Feminism. Living in S.F. during the Harvey Milk years and the blossoming of the GLBT movement. I informed my son that I remembered when single women couldn't get a mortgage in their own names and when NO ONE would ever speak of being gay or lesbian (that part earned a "Wow!").

When Obama was sworn in, I suddenly had a feeling of lightness and took a deep, relaxed breath. It's a great day! A great, great day!

Zookeeper :)