The blog where my conservative family and friends cringe.

I'm officially coming out of the closet on my blog as a liberal. Most of you probably already figured that out, but there are some people I love who I know have quite different political views than me, so I figure I might as well lay that out on the table.

The thing is, last night I watched Hillary's "concession" speech (if you can call it that), and then I watched Obama's victory speech. And I cried, because I am so freaking invigorated about the direction we could be headed in the United States.

For more than seven years now, I haven't watched more than 30 seconds at a time of what our president has had to say. I honestly can't stand to listen to him talk. I always end up cussing at him and turning the channel, not just because of his policy, but because his actual manner of speaking drives me bananas. And last night, I watched two people who are just in competition for the office speak for more than an hour. And I enjoyed it!!! It made me PROUD to be an American and EXCITED about the future of our country. And while I have always loved this place we live in, I can't recall ever feeling this level of optimism about my country.

A lot of people think Barack Obama is all talk, no experience. I won't deny his speaking skills outweigh his years of service to our country. And I know his whole purpose right now is to get people on his side, and a lot of what he says could be labeled "politics," but I don't care. I am on the CHANGE bandwagon, for better or worse. And if nothing else, I can't see how it could possibly get worse with him in office.

I mean, jeez, the man even had nothing but GLOWING things to say about Hillary Clinton, and even managed to compliment John McCain (with a backhanded jab attached, but still). The very idea that a president could speak to us and say POSITIVE things is so freaking refreshing that I even considered volunteering for his campaign. Even though I voted for Hillary in the primary (and right now, my Grandma is having heart palpitations... sorry, Grandma!).

I can't wait to see what happens in November. I can't wait for health care to be available to EVERYONE. I can't wait until education is more focused on individual children instead of some abstract concept of "no child left behind." I can't wait until the United States is back to making friends with the world instead of enemies. I can't wait until our country focuses more on our OWN economy and our OWN people rather than blowing billions of dollars in other parts of the world and sending our jobs to foreign countries when there are people in our own backyards who could use the work.

I'm not naive enough to think all of this is going to happen overnight, but I am hopeful that we are at a place in time where we could very well be on the cusp of something awesome.

Yes, we can.