I cried too while Obama was making that killer speech.

It was amazing to see those transcendent leadership qualities in someone who be the figurehead and symbol of American government. My whole life I’ve had to work against the system, advocating for change. Now, suddenly, I don’t have to work against the system, because the symbolic leader of the system wants to throw out the old guard as much as I do.

In LA yesterday, turning in my rental car, I asked the check-n clerk how business was. With his thick Middle Eastern, he said the company was laying off people and he was worried about his job.

I said I know, I got laid off too, last month, after twelve years. That’s why I was in LA, interviewing for a solar energy job.

I told him there’s $55 trillion missing from the system, and Obama was probably going to address those responsible somehow, at some point.

When I mentioned Obama, his face lit up. He said that’s right, OBAMA IS CHANGE. We were immediately connected, enlivened, willing to work harder than ever before to make sure the system doesn’t steal from us again.

How cool is it that this same emotion is being expressed from so many odd corners of the political spectrum. Colin Powell, and some Oklahoma Republican congressman who formerly worked for the Bush White House ENDORSING the supposed socialist, Condoleeza getting emotional over the election results in a press conference, even W. himself calling the new era “uplifting”–so many people feeling that weight lifted;, the weight of subtle, systemic oppression fading.

Keep the faith. And turn it up a notch.