Barack has won -

And as much as I am looking forward, at my age I always have to look back.

Earlier in October, I heard talk about how if McCain was going to win it was going to take 'the perfect storm' meaning there needed to be a convergence of many elements for McCain to overcome what was clearly a juggenaut.

I believe that the 'perfect storm' existed but it was the convergence of elements that led to Obama's election.

But beyond that, this year was about Obama, his great ability to organize and run a successful campaign, it was about Howard Dean and his 50 state strategy, but at the end of the day, that would have elected a Democrat this year, but to ensure that an African-American was elected, it did indeed take someone of Obama's abilities and accumen and it meant that he stood on the shoulders of those that came before.

He is the product of Brown v. Board of Education, Rosa Parks, John Lewis, Thurgood Marshall, students at Little Rock High and James Meredith and yes Jack Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. He is also the product of all those who died in bombings and lynchings - both white and black - in the name of freedom.

I got on a Continental Trailways bus in Salina Kansas in March of 1965 to go to Selma Alabama. I was a very young, and very frightened young man of 18. When I got on the bus in Salina, as a member of the Methodist Student Movement, I was full of bravado. As the bus moved farther south, my bravado changed rapidly to fear and a thought rattling through my head: What the hell are you doing?

But I was there, not brave, but committed to what was right; what needed to be done.

As I watched Obama's speech tonight and thrilled to what I believe is indeed a transformative election, I felt a part of that history.

Obama transforms our nation. He does it because of his intellect, his ability and his unique ability to connect with hundreds of millions of Americans: black, white, hispanic, young, gay, etc.

He is in a position to do that because he matches his abilities in the context of history. What came before set the table for what is to come.

I could not be happier, nor prouder.

This is not a victory for Barack Obama, it truly is a victory for America, our values and our history.

As Franklin Roosevelt's election preserved capitalism and kept revolutionaries from the streets, Obama's election preserves our democracy and keeps revolutionaries from the streets.

I don't think I overstate.

Obama has indeed provided hope. Because without Hope, despair and frustration prevail and that can lead to revolution.