"What if this is the beginning..."

[More photos from Election Day in post below this one.]

Ami, manager of Bob's, is wearing a red bra and barrettes and star-spangled socks for Election Day today.

I asked her what she had to say on this historic day, and in her wholehearted response, she demonstrated what I like best about Obama:
the way people respond to him--full throttle--with faith, hope, and love in themselves, and in us, together.

Ami told me:

"I feel patriotic today. I'm so excited about the possibility of having someone in office who has something to do with me.

"I wrote down Obama's name four years ago when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention because he gave me goosebumps when he talked about not a white America, not a black America, one America... I got up and looked for a pen to write down his name, and then I looked up his speech and read it."

She continued, "I really feel that we can change the world. If Obama can get everyone on board, if people can really connect, things could come together... And maybe we won't be such a laughing stock to the rest of the world!

"Tonight I'm going to try not to watch MSNBC until 8 p.m. But I'm the geek who will stay up till 3 a.m. watching election results.

"I hope we can look back on this day in thirty years and say this is when things changed.
My teenage daughter told me two years ago,
'You know what would be really cool? Maybe for my high school graduation we could go to Washington, D.C., for Hillary Clinton's inauguration.'
Now she likes Barack--she's just pissed off that she can't vote because she won't be 18 until January.
Maybe my grandkids will ask me, 'Where were you on the day Obama was elected?' "

"Obama says we can change this country, we can change the world. And I believe we can.
Maybe it's being hopeful to a fantastical degree, but... what if this is the beginning of a new era?
I mean, maybe it'll just be politics as usual...

"...But it doesn't have to be."