I am so proud to be an American. This is a feeling which I had forgotten entirely before the elation of election night, which I watched all night until the results were called and I danced in my pajamas as dawn broke through my living room windows. Michelle Obama -- who I adore as much as her husband, for her brains, her sensibility, and her incredible beautiful hugeness -- could have been speaking for me when she said "for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country."
I love the fact that Obama didn't shy away from the difficult messages. I love that he delivered that entire speech without defaulting to lazy rhetoric, without once saying "terrorism." I love his focus on the need to redefine our relationship to the world. I loved his call for responsibility: fiscal, diplomatic, and environmental. I just love HIM. I would take a job bringing this man coffee in the morning. For free.
On a less profound but equally giddy note, I also want to celebrate Aretha Franklin's amazing diva hat.
Yay!
