many people, from my parents to my oldest friends, questioned my giddiness over this week's news repeatedly over the weekend (oh, southern california--that is why i could never go back).

here, in the words of the nyt's frank rich, is why:

"On the morning after a black man won the White House, America's tears of catharsis gave way to unadulterated joy.

Our nation was still in the same ditch it had been the day before, but the atmosphere was giddy. We felt good not only because we had breached a barrier as old as the Republic. Dawn also brought the realization that we were at last emerging from an abusive relationship with our country's 21-st century leaders."