President-elect Barack Hussein Obama

In 1865, slavery was abolished in the United States.
In 1954, the US Supreme Court declared that segregated schools were unconstitutional,
In 2008, a black man named Barack Hussein Obama was elected President of the United States.

Although the media had tried until yesterday not to focus too much on the amazing historical event that an Obama victory would represent, last night, after they called the election, CNN and MSNBC commentators were all about how racial relationships are going to change after this election. Jesse Jackson was crying. Oprah Winfrey was crying. Roland Martin, an African-American CNN journalist, was crying live on TV.

It is really an incredibly important event.

However, we should truly be amazed at the fact that it took so long, rather than at the fact that it finally happened.

Besides, what I find even more amazing -- and beautiful -- is that Barack won this election, he became the first black man to become President, without playing the historical card.
I followed this election closely and I do not recall one moment when Obama appealed specifically to black voters, not one moment he tried to convince the voters to vote for him because it would be a historical watershed moment.
On the contrary, to the end, even when the Republicans were calling one part of the country -- "real America" -- against the other part, Obama always and consistently called for unity.
I never heard him utter such phrases as "as a Black man," or "as an African-American," etc., etc.

He has never defined himself in terms of ethnic identity.

And I think the journalists and commentators should not make such a big deal now out of the fact that he is black. In a strange way, I think it is demeaning his victory. It is saying "People voted for Obama because they wanted to make history, they based their decision on the fact that he is black."

The sad truth is that the racism I saw in this campaign is so deep that it is not going to disappear so easily.

The happy truth is that Obama won this election not because he is black and making history but because he is incredibly smart, he has compassion, he knows the problems voters are facing and he addressed these problems, he sounded sincere all along his campaign. He was truly the best candidate of this campaign, and probably the best candidate in a long time.

And he will be a smart, intelligent, open-minded, tolerant President, and that is the best thing that could happen to this country who has cruelly lacked intelligence in the White House for many years.

Barack Hussein Obama did not win because he is black. This is just a plus. He won because he is brighter than most of us, and probably more honest than most politicians I have seen or heard.

On a humorous note, let me quote a comedian last night on the special show hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
"They were so focused on him being a Muslim and a Socialist, they forgot he was black."