There is really only one word to describe what happened to us as a nation on Tuesday.
And it’s plastered all over the front page of our print edition today.
History.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of electing Barack Obama as the country’s first African-American president.
Up until Tuesday we all too often talked a good game when it comes to race relations, but failed to put it into action.
We liked to consider ourselves an inclusive, colorblind society. But the truth told us something different.
Having said that, simply voting for Obama because of the color of his skin would have been equally as backward as voting against him for the wrong reason.
Obama presented a compelling case for change in America. On Tuesday voters delivered that change.
The move did not come without doubts, and without challengers.
Even some elected officials, from Gov. Ed Rendell to U.S. Rep. John Murtha, voiced doubts as to whether we were ready to cast our votes for a black man for president.
Those beliefs were shattered Tuesday. In towns, big and small all across this region and country.
In Chester. And in Radnor. In Darby Borough. And in Thornbury Township.
Delaware County backed the Democrat in his historic bid for the White House. So did Pennsylvania, becoming the first of the crucial swing states to break for Obama early in the night.
Undoubtedly, the hard work for the president-elect is just starting. The country faces huge issues, from a faltering economy teetering on the brink of a recession, the inability of many of its citizens to get access to basic health care, the soaring cost of education, and the constant threat of terror that lurks in the background.
But we would be remiss if we did not take a moment to savor what happened on Tuesday.
This is not the same country it was on Monday.
Change has come to America.
History, indeed.