President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, and the UNITED States of America

"Americans [have] sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America."- President-Elect Barack Obama.

Friends, Americans, Country-men: We have ourselves a national leader, a biracial leader, a charsmastic leader, and an unifying leader. We have Barack Obama as our next President of this great country. And his partner, Joe Biden, as the first Catholic vice president. Myself, a Catholic--I couldn't be happier. Glass ceilings have not been shattered; they have been oblitertated. Stigma's have not been decimated, only inhibited.

This country didn't change overnight. Rather, now we have more information about where we will most likely go than we did twenty-four hours ago. I'm not going to sit here and preach Obama to you: you will see his work unfold sooner rather than later.

Did anyone see John McCain's speech last night? Stellar. He has secured his place in history as the only man formadiable enough to run against our next President. This country owes him more than we will ever know. But not the presidency. I, certainly, have no problem with that. If you didn't see it, let me just highlight this for you.

"Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth. Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I applaud him for it, and offer him my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day. Though our faith assures us she is at rest in the presence of her creator and so very proud of the good man she helped raise...These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face."-Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona)

John McCain deserves the laud, respect, and even THANKS from the Democratic Party. Without his failure, we would not have success. Without his mistakes we would not have victory.

So what does this presidency mean for us? It means a unity the likes the country has not seen outside of tragedy. We were together after the Assassinations of 68. We were together when the towers fell. But where were we with success? On our own. Shooting the breeze on our own two feet, never thinking about the other man. Now is the time we must reach across the aisle and shake the hand of men and women of other parties, relgions, creeds, sexual orientations, and walks of life.

Unity is the only solution to the problem. Barack Obama, with his infallable grassroots campagin, will deliver this message to the world, and to our TV sets. We must unite under success with tears of joy and happiness. Starting in 77 days, this will be true.

You are your brother's keeper; you are your sister's keeper. As Lincoln said "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

God bless ya. I couldn't be more proud of this country.

(Shoutout to Kristin Moran who helped me edit this!)