Unassociated Press

“I was here 44 years ago when my father was elected president,” said a radiant Luci Baines Johnson, the sound of her voice periodically muffled by the cheers from the crowd at the historic Driskell Hotel in Austin, Texas as they watched swing states cross, one by one, to the blue side of America.

“My father knew when he signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 that he would hand over the nation to Republicans for the next generation, but he said if that’s what it takes it’s worth it.”

The daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson wore an impeccable blue suit with a button on the lapel that read “America’s Next First Family” above a serene picture of Barack and Michelle Obama with their two young daughters.

“Tonight, his dreams are coming true. Tonight society has justice. Congratulations to all of us.”

The party, held by the Obama for America Campaign, began like an electric Super Bowl game-the massive crowd, almost impossible for one trying to get to the bar to navigate through, booed as the opposing team won the reliable Republican states.

The booing, however, was heard only occasionally.

As states that went red fours years ago swung over to Obama, the crowd, which could not be characterized by any race, age, gender or income demographic but did distinctly smell of sweat and alcohol, cheered so loudly that the $8.50 Blue State Martini glass in the hand of a young woman near the smokers’ balcony began to vibrate; its contents seemingly trembled with excitement.

Blue Austinites watched intently as several large screens displaying CNN and MSNBC revealed the decision made by each state, their eyes shining as Obama’s electoral college count took off and left John McCain far behind.

The exhilaration could not be dampened by the results from Texas which, as expected, flashed red on the screen displaying the CNN broadcast.

Right before 10 p.m. CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer finally conveyed the news they had been waiting for through a well fought election, an intense primary and eight years of what Obama referred to as “the failed policies” of President George W. Bush.

Though opinion polls had already placed the democratic candidate in the lead and depicted a McCain path to the White House as a strenuously steep climb, the reaction to the long awaited news was still truly memorable.

Cheers rang out to a pitch so loud it seemed to dissolve into silence and slow the passing of time, and in that moment there was only joy-strangers became family and embraced each other, grown men jumped up and down like jubilant children, a tall, elderly African-American woman stepped backward into a corner and wept-as the United States of America elected its first black president.

“I remember the 60’s,” said Katherine Taylor, a 56 year old computer software writer seated near the bar, “I remember the Kennedy assassination; I remember the riots in the streets.”

Her voice began to shake, but she let the emotion flow through without attempt to stop it, “It’s an exciting time to be alive; I’m so proud of him, I’m so proud to be an American.”

In the immediate months and years following this historic election, our attention will be fixed on the many issues that divided the country for so long-issues that need not be reiterated to any American who has felt the blow of this economic downturn, pumped gas, or sent their loved one away in uniform-all will be the subject of immediate scrutiny for both disappointed Republicans and astute Democrats.

However, beyond the actual performance of the man so many have trusted to redirect the country, we all can rejoice, Democrats and Republicans, at the progress the country has made since the struggles of LBJ, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and countless others only a few decades ago.

This is a night not only for black Americans, but for all America, despite the nasty, ignorant remarks that have already surfaced in these few hours after the election.

This is not the country of the Bush Doctrine, this is not the country of wealthy, campaign contributing lobbyists and this is not the country of intolerance, and though the energy was high and the opponent clear, hate and deeply negative feelings did not present themselves at the Driskell.

“I think he really loved his country,” said 50 year-old Tamara Miller about McCain, “but he thinks the only way we can get things done is through a war.”

“Our country has to make a change,” said retired Braniff Airways flight attendant Sally Lorenz, 75, “We can’t go on the way we are.”

The influence of the old, narrow-minded, backward thinking population could not be seen in the landslide victory of a black man who many thought did not stand a chance, who thought so little of the American people that the idea of the country electing such a man was ludicrous.

Obama said it best in the speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention that first brought him into the national arena, “There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America.”