How about that acceptance speech?

Tears, SoapChef, tears. And smiles. At the same time. I found it as moving and inspiring as I would have hoped and have come to expect from our new President. I can’t wait to watch them work.

They ran the most amazing campaign in many, many decades. Watch their transition dust!

wow….just wow.

Really was amazing, I think right at the end I almost cried a little, more so in hopes for a better future for our country, I remember about 9 or 10 years ago and maybe it was because I was only about 10 or 11 then but I remember a much happier place then the world is today, while that makes me feel so old saying that…i just don’t think the world if heading in a good direction or atleast not the US. I hope Obama really does do something good for our country and I believe he will.

I cried through it.

Unbelievable.

I thought the speech was very eloquent and intelligent and demonstrated that Obama is a good choice as our new president. You could tell he was passionate and thoughtful about everything he said and about his commitment for helping to achieve a better America.

My eight year old loved the part about getting a new puppy for his girls.

I also teared up multiple times. This is a step in the right direction not just for America, but for the world in general. I dream that one day, maybe, the world will be like a Utopia. Not in my lifetime, but a step was taken tonight… And there will be many more to follow.

I believed…................for the first time in a long long time.

It made my heart feel so full.

Good Lord, I had just gotten a hold on myself and read your answers. There goes the second half of the box of kleenex! Everything you all said, the crying, the smiling, the pride, the puppies, the hope for the future, YES! Thank you everyone for voting and caring! Lurve everyone!

I would have expected nothing less from this great man. He did exactly what he needed to do in order to reach out to those “whose votes he hadn’t yet earned.” Brilliant, fitting end to a brilliant campaign.

The puppies. Oh my god, the puppies.

Absolutely amazing. Not only did we witness history in the making, tonight. We were rewarded with an inspiring speech, a call to action and a reminder that it’s not going to be a smooth road. I loved that he pointed out the there will be “false starts” – truly, when have you heard a President or President-Elect admit that it’s going to be trial and error…but the key is to keep working on it…I mean when have you heard it and believed the sincerity of the statement? Truly amazing!

My husband – not necessarily an Obama supporter – was PROUD to have him speaking for us and to us…he said for the first time in 8 years, he didn’t cringe when our President(Elect) spoke nationwide…worldwide.

Yes…the puppy comment brought happy tears to my eyes…again! I had just finished crying happy tears!

@dale It WAS brilliant. That is the perfect word for it.

(Also, thanks for being the calm and knowledgable voice of reason through this roller coaster ride of a campaign.)

What a campaign, what a speech, what a moment in history. I couldn’t have been prouder if I were his mother!

I was glad to do it. I never lost faith because I knew from the moment I first heard Obama speak he would be our President the first time he decided to run.

All hail Dale! Good work, sir!

It was a wonderful, inspiring speech. We face tough times ahead as a nation, but Obama’s message really made me quite hopeful.

I hope that we can get beyond the divisiveness of the last eight years and more, and work together to create a better, stronger America. I loved his message of service and responsibility. We should all be proud to serve our country, in war or in peace, and we should strive to enrich the quality of life here and not just our pocket books—though that’s important, too.

I took my family on vacation to Chicago in September of 2004, after Obama had given his keynote speech at the DNC and while he was running for Congress (but before he was elected). I had been SO impressed with what I’d heard that I was at that point convinced of his destiny.

While we were in Chicago, in our hotel room, we turned on the TV and there was candidate Obama on the news. My wife hadn’t heard this speech, not being as into politics as I was, and she perked her ears up. The first thing she said was “too bad about his name, sounds too much like Osama”. I told her that wasn’t the half of it, that his middle name was Hussein. She said, “well, good luck to him.” I told her he’d be President some day, possibly after Kerry got out of office. She was very skeptical that America would elect someone named Barack Hussein Obama.

She is of course fully on board and has been for some time, the biggest challenge for her was to get her to see that he was a better candidate than Hillary, as voting for a woman for President was very important to her, but she realized by the time our caucus rolled around that Obama was the superior candidate.

Tonight I told her how this one person on my Facebook who I’m “friends” with is this woman with whom I went to high school more years ago than I like to remember. I did not know when we were in school that she was Evangelical (don’t even think I knew what that was), but I remember going on a field trip with her older brother who was trying to convert me (though in a very nice way). He lost my interest when he started to tell me how the bible shows it’s plausible for man and dinosaur to have co-existed. Anyway, she’s of that same stripe, and I saw when I logged onto Facebook tonight (for the first time in ages) that she had two recent activities. One was campaigning for McCain and the other was that she’d joined the Barack HUSSEIN Obama—No Thanks club. She had also had some activity previously about her date night with Jesus, so I wasn’t too surprised.

Anyway, I had gone to Facebook because my wife wanted me to see if I could get into a certain area of her profile, and she was asking me about who some of these people were (mostly they’re old high school acquaintances who sent me a friend request and I, not being a rude person, accepted…such was the case with this person). Anyway, I told my wife that the one person had those activities on her Facebook, and she said something to the effect that she can’t believe that people would actually be stupid enough to think your given name matters. I agreed, but I reminded her that even she didn’t think it was all that implausible just over 4 years ago.

I guess if I have a point it is this…even someone who is cynical about the way the country was headed is able to be renewed by something of this nature. It’s a powerful moment in American history, the kind that will be written about in every History book alongside Washington, Lincoln and FDR. I’m glad to have lived through it and I have already seen the transformative power of Obama.

I can’t wait to see what the next 4 years brings. I am once again optimistic about the future of this country.

Honestly? meh. Not really any different that I would have expected. A collection of… shiny platitudes. It’s the new jingoism. I remain unimpressed.

I cried. It was sloppy and public. Awesome.

dale, a side-note, that’s very very far onto the side, did you ever see sarah silverman’s the great schlep? she says something like, ”‘barack – hussein – obama’ yeah, it’s a shitty-ass name, but you’d think a guy named maneshevitz goldblatt would understand that.” something about your story about the people who couldn’t seem to get past his name made me think of that. it’s a funny video.

This is a proud moment for this country and a hopeful one for the world. For this to work, we will all have to work hard, make changes we can’t even imagine now. It will be challenging, but we will feel like we have a purpose again.

This current administration can’t be over soon enough for me.

@La chica: That video was hysterical.

great

My favorite part was when President-Elect Obama (God, that’s fun to write) reached out to those around the world: “To all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world.”

I could picture it. And imagining them thinking, “Whoa! He means me! Maybe America won’t be such a bully! Maybe they will lead and inspire and use their might for good.” Seeing these amazing photos from around the world showed me what I had imagined.

My other favorite part was his reaching out to those who voted for McCain: “And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn -– I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too.”

Just – wow. I could not imagine Bush saying such a thing.
I’m so moved, so grateful. Still in awe.

Thanks for the link to those photos, Trusting, they were great. Your answer was excellent also.

Can only echo what everyone else has said and also what Michelle had said, “I feel proud to be an American”... for the first time in many years.

Now – I just want to be an Jewish mother and feed him some chicken soup and potroast and fatten him up a little!

The road is long and the tasks are hard and he will not (in his own words) “be a perfect president” but I feel at least we are on the right road at last.

And won’t they be a great family in the White House! Did anyone else think of the Kennedys and Camelot when they watched them on stage last night?

I didn’t sleeep much last night; there is such quiet joy in my heart.

I liked his speech. It was beautifully delivered and written, but I’m inclined to agree with aidje that it was a collection of shiny platitudes. I love Obama, but he has delivered better and more interesting speeches in my opinon. I can’t wait for his State of the Union.

Perhaps it’s just the nature of the loser’s speech, but I found John McCain’s speech much more interesting. I was very impressed by the grace with which he conceded victory and the thrust of his speech.

I choked up. He’s amazing and inspiring. I don’t think anything can do better than the original Yes We Can speech, but I thought this was a very good wrap up to his campaign.

And honestly, I agree with something Will.I.Am said last night by hologram: I sincerely, sincerely hope that in the future when kids are learning about this speech and that speech in school—Nothing to fear but fear itself, Four score and seven years ago, I have a dream—I sincerely hope they are also learning and watching Yes We Can.

My mother went crazy. Screaming, crying, and cheering all in her nightgown. It’s so wonderful! Obama is our first African-American president! It’s just like, what?!?! I can say that?!?! We’ve got a black family in the White House now!

I had not seen the Silverman clip, that’s great!

…and for those saying it was a collection of platitudes, well I understand where you’re coming from, but a speech like that called for broad strokes and generalities…this is where you look to connect with the people in a visceral (and less “intelligent”) way. This is where you bring out the call and response. What’s important was 1) he didn’t gloat, 2) he was gracious to his opponent and 3) he didn’t just speak to his supporters, but to everyone.

I just re-read the speech online and starting tearing up at my desk. It was an amazing speech.

Dale Petrie is the new Walter Cronkite! I definitely see you on t.v. as a commentator. Great analysis all through the election. :-)

I’d take the job, maybe a new calling for me. Maybe I should apply for Tim Russert’s job?

Honestly Dale, I would love to see a combination of you and Nate Silver. Nate doing numbers and you giving commentary. You made it a better election season.

That would be cool, Nate is my hero. Did you see how close he pegged it? His map which he put up before any results were in looks almost identical to the final A/P map

I think Nate Silver really made a name for himself this election season. Today’s XKCD kind of emphasized that. (You have to let the mouse hover over the image to see the scrollover text, but he’s in there.)

@EmpressPixie Oops, the link went back to the question.

She just neglected an “http://” what she meant was XKCD.

Thanks lapilofu!

Great link. So true.

@TrustingLife: Thank you so much for the pictures. I bawled like a baby all over again seeing those. I don’t think I ever realized until now A) How much other countries in the world follow US elections and B) How much the outcome of the elections can impact them. Suddenly, I feel much more connected to the wider world : )

i loved it, what was even more impressing was mccains concession speech!

hats off to loosing graciously!

I almost teared up, and I’m Australian…