AP reports that it has a tally showing Barack Obama has clinched the nomination.
WASHINGTON ... (AP) ... Barack Obama has effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates.
The tally put Obama over the top Tuesday, ahead of the results from the final primaries in Montana and South Dakota. The Illinois senator becomes the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House. Obama outlasted former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a historic contest and now faces Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona for the presidency.
My reaction is one I did not expect. Today, I cried.
More of my thoughts below the fold.
I didn't think I would cry, because I've learned through the years that life knocks us down even when we do our best. We get up, keep our head down, and chug along anyway. But I swear, reading that news bulletin I can't help myself.
For and African American to become the nominee of a major party in this country is something we did not expect at all.
We started in the fields, fresh off the slave ships. We were whipped, chained, raped, sold from our families and treated worse than dirt. Yet we thrived.
We lived through KKK, Jim Crow, poll taxes, reverse discrimination and everything else thrown in our way. Yet we still thrived.
Now emerges this man whose lineage is not from slavery, who is now the Democratic nominee, Barack Hussein Obama. He is the leader of the Joshua generation.
I know my deceased dad, relatives, uncles and all the ancestors are cheering about this. God, we've come such a long way. I am so fuckin' happy I can barely think straight.
Barack Obama will prevail in the fall. He will be president of ALL the people (not just black people) beginning in 2009. I hope his significant achievement moves us toward that post-racial era that my fellow Kossacks assure me exists.
It is indeed a reason to sing Oh Happy Day!
Update: Oh, wow. We made the rec list. Man, oh, man. Thank you, everyone. I was just thinking about my favorite uncle. He was a gay man who couldn't be himself, who couldn't live his life openly the way he should have been able to do. He would have loved this victory because Obama accepts and embraces people of good will for who they are. That's all anybody wants.
It's been a long, long time coming. But I know a change gon' come. Oh, yes, it will.
Update II: I made the top of the rec list!!!! Alas, I have work to do, that can't wait. I'll be back later. Oh, I hear Hillary is now "open" to be on the ticket. I'll leave that one alone for today. I'm all smiles and kindness. I will say that I am proud that the Democratic Party led the way to have a black man and a white woman as the top contenders this primary season. We have the better candidates by far. We will prevail in November.
Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Obama!