Obama Rally - Chicago, IL

Attending the Election Night Obama rally in Grant Park, Chicago, was a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience. (Yes, I know that sounds cliche!) But I don't anticipate being in attendance at an election night celebration with the new president again.

If you wish to see professionally filmed footage of the evening, check out CNN. If you want to see better quality video of someone who was at the event, click here (this videographer was several yards in front of me). If you want to see what my camera phone captured in the moment, I've included it below!

Although I was within view of the stage where President-elect Obama was speaking (I did get tickets to the event!), I wasn't the man on whose shoulder Oprah cried. Instead, you can see the view I had from far back in the field. I didn't think it was worth pushing to the front (or even the middle) to get a better view. After all, I was across the room from then-Senator Obama when he visited my workplace a couple years ago.

Tens of thousands of people were on the ball fields for the rally. Each one had to leave! Here is a scene from the exit.

The biggest impact I felt from the event is that the people in attendance there seemed to me to be "America" - The United States of America. Of course, the demographics reflected the demographics of Chicago and the state of Illinois, but it seemed clear to me that "everyone" was there - rich and poor, old and young, white and black, Hispanic and Asian, working people and students, etc. (This is in contrast with the demographics of another political gathering). To paraphrase the next First Lady, it gave me reason to be proud of the US considering its ugly past and the improbability that, even 35 years ago when I was born, the US would have an African American president - especially one with a "funny name." Now the harder task begins for the President-elect and the rest of the country: working together to make progress on the country's - and the world's - most important issues.