The Audacity of Hope

I'm watching Barack Obama give his DNC presidential nomination acceptance speech right now, 10:45pm on Thursday 8/28/08. I've been hot and cold with this election, what with the crazy Billary vs Obama/"experience"/gender-card-no-race-card-no-gender-card/Geraldine Ferrara nonsense, and more recently the Billary vs O'bama vs McCain (vs Paris Hilton? vs Madonna?) nonsense. But right now I'm feeling proud of my country for the first time... erm... I mean.....

Tonight, I feel like I'm witnessing something huge. My dad used to tell me I, his smart American citizen daughter, could grow up to be the President of the United States. But it was actually not true. There are too many glass ceilings glass walls glass hurdles glass handcuffs, barriers that everyone knows exists but never actually admits to. We've come a long way, but for most of my life people have looked at me and seen: an other.

But tonight, I feel like maybe, just maybe, we're seeing the first hint of a surge of momentum that'll take us from the now we know to a never-foreseen future. Where my Mudblood kids can look with adoration and respect at the intelligent half-Black child of a single parent from Hawaii, and feel that their heritage will not restrain them from their wildest dreams.