All men, all women, No more three-fifths

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed --

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

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Whatever a person's political persuasion, whatever his or her beliefs regarding tax cuts for the middle class, drilling in ANWAR, global warming, abortion, the War in Iraq, etc., he or she must appreciate the wonderful inspiration this is for America in its march forward toward brotherhood for all.

Barack Obama will not be a perfect President. He will stumble. He will misspeak. He will make decisions that will alternately aggravate Republicans, Independents, Democrats, Libertarians, and Vegetarians. But America is one step farther along the path toward the ideal of its founding documents.

I dedicate this post to some special people:

To the old coot who told me a few weeks ago that he wouldn't vote for that black man.

And, dadgum it, even to the poor fools who called me "nigger-lover" back in the sixties.

But more especially to the black, Hispanic, Asian, Muslim, female, handicapped, mixed race, and other students that I have taught or will teach who need the hope this man offers.

To the black boy cruelly mistreated for the theft of a watermelon back in the twenties. My Daddy was only a boy himself when he witnessed that event.

To Silas McComb, the janitor at Trinity Methodist Church and the Desoto Theater in Rome, Georgia back in the 1960s. Mr. McComb, uneducated himself, labored at many menial jobs to enable his children to achieve doctorates from prestigious colleges. I wish he could have heard that speech tonight.

To Solomon Lasoi, my late Kenyan friend and college roommate who, like Barack Obama, loved Kenya and the United States.

To Toot.

To that 106-year-old voter in Atlanta.

What a wonderful speech.
What a marvelous night.

Yes we can.

God bless President-Elect Barack Obama.
God bless the United States of America.