This is an amazing day, and the meaning of it, the meaning of its historical significance, defies words. It defies eloquence and statements and cadence and words woven poetically together. This is the dawn of a wonderful new America. This is the first time in my life I can truly say my heart is swelling (I can physically feel it!) with pride in my country.

I’m sure that statement alone will lead people to bash me in comments, and do that if you will. But I am telling the truth, and I’m sure I am not alone. Here’s why.

I am part of Generation X. We are a generation of cynics and doubters. I have voted before, sure. But I’ve voted against, not for. I’ve voted to keep someone out, not put someone in. The examples that were set before my generation, as we grew into teen and adulthood while the ’80s turned into the ’90s, made us jaded.

In the ’80s, this is what we learned: power, money, corruption. These are the values that make things happen. Politicians can’t be trusted. In the ’90s, just as I and my fellow X’ers first entered the workforce, a recession hit. It isn’t one that gets talked about much, but I remember it clearly. I remember friends who had college degrees and couldn’t get hired at McDonald’s flipping burgers. This was our welcome to adulthood.

As we matured and evolved into adults, the dot-com bust in the early 2000s hit. We learned that security, especially job security, means very little.

We also don’t tend to be loyal just because we’re supposed to be. We’ve been screwed. We know better. You have to earn it.

In the year 2000, we got one lesson: your vote doesn’t matter. That just reaffirmed our lifelong lesson that there’s little point in caring, or bothering.

In the year 2004, I got another lesson: most people in America seriously were willing to re-elect George Bush despite the overwhelming evidence he is a cancer on this nation. I remember the horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach… that feeling that I really lived in a country where so many people think so differently than I do.

And that’s not because I am a bleeding heart liberal. I have voted Republican before. It was because it was so painfully obvious to me how horrible Bush was for this country, I couldn’t imagine millions of people disagreeing. Most people. More people than not. Wow. That scarred.

I can remember growing up and hearing stories about J.F.K. and I couldn’t quite grasp being that excited about a politician. That inspired. Believing in a leader like that. It was unfathomable.

Today, I get it. I get it. I so get it.

As I watch the news and see the people of the world cheering, as I see the hope this inspires from my home state of North Carolina to people thousands of miles away, I get it.

I have never been excited like I have this whole race, even back from the days of the primaries. I’ve never been so teary-eyed every time a politician speaks. I’ve never felt such hope for the future as I have hearing Barack Obama speak.

I never thought I would live to not only see women running for offices in the White House, but to be at a point that I could comfortably vote against a woman in the White House. Twice. That is true women’s rights, in my mind. If I only blindly voted for Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin just because they are women, that would be sad.

I know I can’t speak for a generation. I know it’s insane to even attempt to. I’m sure I will get slammed for even daring to consider it. And maybe I am way off-base. Maybe most of us in our 30s now are full of sunshine and hope and fairies and rainbows. Maybe I missed a memo.

I just know that I am a cynic, and Barack Obama has made a believer out of me. No matter what happens in the next four years, if he has this effect on even a small portion of our country we will be in a much, much better place. This will be a much better world. I believe.

Have you posted about Obama winning the presidency? Please comment below and leave CommentLuv selected, and it will automatically provide a link to your latest post. I would love to have a compilation of post-election day posts here.

Perhaps there would be less commentary on the subject if Palin was a candidate all women love, but female voters are wildly divided. Well, at least the female voters who filled out a form on this site. Whatever that means.

I’ve got plenty of my own opinions about her and about the presidential election, but this post isn’t about me (don’t worry, I’ll share and bore all of you soon enough). Here is a sampling of what’s being said in the blogosphere about the presidential election. Apparently, women have strong feelings about the election.

The best part I found in reading the submissions is just the experience of hearing real voices sharing their authentic feelings about the election. Please be sure to spread the word about this post. Stumble it, tweet it, Digg it. Visit the posts and do the same. And please, comment on the posts. Let’s keep this unbelievably important conversation lively and active. Our futures depend on it!

Presidential Election in the Blogosphere

• A Political Issue at The Further Adventures of Spacemom. Excerpt: “The young Ms. Palin had a choice of what to do when she found out. A CHOICE. A LEGAL CHOICE. I keep reading how Gov Palin is “walking the talk.” Bullshit. Her DAUGHTER is doing that. Not the governor.”
• Disenfranchised and Patriotism from Upper Case Woman. Excerpt: “I love the fact that we have the OPTION of a free press, even when we don’t exercise it. I love the fact that no matter how the press gets restricted by whatever reason (for instance, today press freedom is restricted by money issues–both ownership and advertising), something new emerges like the blogosphere and is not shut down.”
• Obama and McCain and Me at Whiskey in my Sippy Cup. Excerpt: “Am I am democrat? Am I a republican? I don’t care. I am an American, and I am really hopeful for our country’s future, and I am hopeful that we as citizens can come together behind our commander-in-chief, whoever he ends up being, and work together to make America the kick ass country is deserves to be.”
• I Was There! Obama’s Acceptance Speech at Moms Byte. Excerpt: “The vibe of the entire stadium was of pure excitement. I noticed that people were chatting with their neighbors as if they were long, lost friends. It was amazing to see the entire crowd rooting for the same team. Normally, at a football game, most of the fans are for one team or the other. And when your team is losing, the crowd gets crazy… yelling, drunkenness, rudeness, etc. Not here. Not now! There was a buzz in the air.”
• Every Day I’m More Afraid of Organized Religion at Mostly Gray. Excerpt: “I honestly don’t care if John McCain is a Muslim or if Barack Obama is a devout Atheist and it shouldn’t matter to the American people.”
• I am One of 600,000 Americans Who Lost Their Jobs This Year at Five Husbands – Excerpt: “I am educated, competent and middle aged. At least I used to be competent. I obtained an excellent result for a client in December, raised a lot of money for various causes over the past few years, but my previous successes don’t seem to count for much of anything. I have applied for jobs I am well qualified for without success. I have applied for jobs I am over qualified for without success. I have applied for jobs I am ridiculously overqualified for with no success. I have applied for jobs that don’t even pay money (bartering) without success.”
• Through My Son’s Eyes from Insta-Mom. Excerpt: “Certainly McCain’s motivation in tapping Palin is suspect. There’s no question that Palin’s family dynamic is the stuff that tabloids can only hope to dream up. And yes, Obama is “just” a junior Senator from Illinois whose eloquence and dynamism often overshadow his rhetoric. I know that’s all part of making a decision, but why is it the only part of the decision that the pundits and politicians seem to be focusing on? These things are what they are, and there’s little we can do to change them.”
• Can a Stay-at-Home Mom be Pro-Palin? and Sarah Palin at the RNC from What About Mom. Excerpt: “Sarah Palin seems to be the embodiment of post-feminism. As a tomboy/beauty queen/college graduate/wife/mother/mayor/establishment-taker-on-er/governor/vice-presidential candidate, she rocks!”
• Does Joe Biden Know His Science? at About.com Catholicism. Excerpt: “As the 2008 U.S. presidential race heats up, embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR) appears to be generating as much controversy as abortion. The latest remark by Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden, however, raises the question of whether the Democratic ticket is committed to the issue because they believe that ESCR shows promise or because they do not understand the science.”
• Sarah Palin – Breaking My Own Rules at 2ScrappyChix. Excerpt: “I would be thrilled to see her as VP. If Obama had chosen Hillary instead of SWM (standard white male) as his running mate and McCain had gone with SWM, I seriously would have considered voting Dem even though I don’t care for either of them, just to see a woman in that position. I suspect I’m not the only one who feels this way.”
• I am Fired Up Right Now at A Mom Two Boys. Excerpt: “I was disheartened this morning to read that McCain’s support from white women voters has jumped DRAMATICALLY since he announced Sarah Palin as his running mate. I really thought we were smarter than that. I really thought that American women would vote on ISSUES, not on the possession of a vagina. And I’m sure some of those women ARE voting on issues, which is totally fine. At least that’s defensible. At least there’s merit to it.”
• I Want Sarah in a Bad Way at Deb on the Rocks. Excerpt: “Sarah also seems to be a funky freakbeast– in crazy glasses and Ugg boots. She Supernatural Sarah with enigmatic superpowers. She might be a figment of our collective unconscious. She can see right through you like a blue-eyed Husky and then have a litter of your babies before you even knew your period was late. Shazam! She’s the Snow Queen arriving on hockey skates, the lead mush dog hot on your scent, closing in.”

Next Link Love Extravaganza

Would you like some link love? Between now and October 1, submit your posts. The next topic will be Horrible Customer Service. Have you had a run-in with a company that treats you like crap? Blog about it and submit it here. We’re going to stir up some trouble!

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That’s when I realized that perhaps it makes more sense to do the link love thing monthly, and to be more organized about it. Plus, I figured by posting a call for submissions here, all of my readers will see this. So far, I’ve just been tweeting for submissions on Twitter (and I’ll do that too right after I post this).

The other thing I noticed is that the first week of link love I was inundated, and by the second week much less so.

I also had already planned to do a theme. On the heels of the Democratic and Republican conventions, and a whole hunka controversies (including revival in the New York Times of that damn Mommy Wars term), I decided the Presidential election would make a great theme. And when I say posts on the election, I don’t just mean from political bloggers. I want to hear from real people.

I’ll even give you some time. The deadline is September 15 to submit a permalink to a post you’ve written on the Presidential election. There will be no preference to right or left (well, I have my own preferences, but I’ll give link love to everyone in the honor of fair debate and discourse, of course). Just use the form below.

And be sure you include a separate URL for the permalink of the specific post, and don’t just submit a link to your blog. That will be ignored.

Thanks! Let’s blog politics!

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I just voted today in the North Carolina primary, and right now I am doing double duty at midnight posting on Twitter and watching CNN. In one evening on Twitter, I’ve seen heated debates, jabs at Hillary Clinton, cheers for Barack Obama, and seen national newscasters be the butt of jokes.

In fact, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both on Twitter, as well as any assorted number of Twitter accounts with a candidate’s name in them. Obama has an amazing number of followers (almost 30,000, reputed to be the most followed member on Twitter).

So you can follow the campaign in the papers, or you can follow this cool online conversation about the campaign. It’s pretty telling.