An historic day

The nearly two-year long presidential race that the candidates, the media, and the American citizens have endured has ended in an historic day that many never thought would come so soon.

With the hubbub of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, many Americans, including myself, were a little surprised to see how quickly the next president of the United States was elected. I guess considering this is only the third presidential election I've really paid attention to (I'm only 21, don't hate me), it was like seeing a new America--ready to elect a president without hesitation or bold accusations.

It was clear early on, however, that networks weren't going to jump the gun and predict a win they couldn't prove. As Barack Obama has been telling his supporters for the last several weeks, the election shouldn't be taken for granted. CNN didn't jump the gun, but then again they didn't really have to. As Obama began raking in the swing states, the future of America was clear.

Leading up to the swing states however, CNN made sure to entertain its audience whenever possible. No, not in the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert-I'm pretending to hate you kind of way, but in a weird, technologically-bizarre kind of way. I was sitting on my couch, minding my own business when I hear Wolf Blitzer blurt out something about how Jessica Yellin is about to be in the studio--even though she's in Grant Park, Chicago. I'm thinking to myself, 'he's finally lost it." But lo and behold Wolf "beams" Jessica Yellin into the studio (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2un9AxQCQU), making her appear as a full-body hologram standing across from Wolf.

You'd think CNN's computer engineer peeps would stop there, but they also constructed the Virtual Capitol, which appeared as another funky hologram with spinning congressional seats to show the Democrat/Republican ratio.

I know I said this stuff is a little weird, but a little part of me wants to say it's kind of cool, too. I guess television has to do something to trump the Internet, right? You have to wonder though if the new techie stuff took away from election coverage. To that, I'd have to say no. In fact, it curbed my boredom. When Obama started running away with the win, I wanted to tell Wolf to bring on the holograms.

Other than CNN's fancy new skills, the coverage was rather emotional. Commentary from political analyst Roland Martin was engaging; he shed a tear or two at the end. It was interesting also to get his perspective as a black man and an Obama supporter who voted for both of the Bushes. Roland and the other analysts and contributors focused on the historical significance of the day and how far our nation has come since segregation and the civil rights movement.

In the end, Obama's win showed that consistent messaging is a key to victory, and during his speech as president elect, he reiterated his "yes we can" slogan to a crowd of tens of thousands of Chicagoans and others. McCain's concession speech on the other hand, however gracious, showed his final shift in tone and message. While I suppose the purpose of a concession speech is to concede, McCain shared thoughts about Barack Obama that we rarely saw during his campaign. He pronounced Obama as a respectable man and a great American who outran the Republican efforts. I think McCain finally got the message right.