Yet more Obama.

Today after grocery shopping I stopped into the African goods shop where I had been getting buttons in the campaign, and the short African (? - she might be Caribbean) lady who runs it jumped up and gave me two high fives and was like, "Yes, we did it!" She then was telling me that she had been at an Italian restaurant near her house to watch results - she had gotten tickets for the rally, but she decided not to go because of the crowds - and that the restaurant had bottles of champagne ready, and popped them and gave a glass to everyone in the house once it was declared Obama was president.

She's also started stocking neon-green t-shirts with a picture of the Obama family on them, and the words "America's First Family". A (black) middle-aged lady in the store who was in when I was in asked her if they had them in 2XL, and said that the day after the election the owner of a local cafeteria had given out free "Breakfast on Obama" to everyone until noon, and that Obama himself had stopped by, though she hadn't since it was too busy, with lines stretching around the block.

On another note, a (white) friend of mine from North Carolina who is laconic and thoughtful said that this election cycle has made him change his "best qualified person for the job" thinking, since he's realized how much good has come about just by the symbolic value of a black man holding the nation's highest office. He said he's lucky this election, since he thinks Obama is the most qualified person, and there's these added benefits, but now he'll be thinking differently about diversity in the future.