President-Elect Barack Obama

I'm physically and emotionally exhausted, but I can't quite imagine going to sleep just yet.

What an amazing night. I knew this morning that Obama could do it, that we could do it, but I was unable to make myself too hopeful.

But, it's done. In January, we will see a young African-American man with an Arab-origin middle name be sworn in as President of the United States.

While we have a long road ahead of us--an economy in the tank and a war that doesn't stop for election night--tonight we started down the path of healing.

I believe the world will see America through a new lens. A lens of hope and change, but most of all, a lens of seriousness to confront global problems with a temperament that's meant for the greatest free nation in this world.

There's a new face of America tonight. A face of the Obamas, yes, but also the face of you and me. It's a face that shows the belief that we can be better than we've been before. A face that says we can move further ahead than we have before. A face that sees we are all apart of this country, no matter your religion, your race, your socioeconomic status. We are America.

I believe this new face will shine across this globe as the America this country was intended to be. Although our forefathers never dreamed, and maybe never wanted, a black man in the highest office in this land, our forefathers did dream of a place that presented the best opportunities this world has to offer.

America has seen this opportunity before, but never so much as tonight. As a country, we can never, and should never, forget the past, but tonight we showed that we are beyond the racial boundaries that held us down. We are beyond the ideologies that so seemingly divided us.

We are again the greatest country in the world. We are the face of the United States of America.

L.