PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

WE HAVE HOPE.

Of course, that word was the cornerstone of Barack Obama's campaign, but it took his historic victory Tuesday to make us realize how much of it we have been missing.

Steadily, over the years, we have felt the erosion of hope for a country united on the principles of democracy and fairness, a country that could again lead the world based, not on military might, but on a steadfast defense of human rights. For so long, we have missed the hope that ordinary people could join together to bring about change.

Now, we have that hope.

Hope is all about tomorrow, but let us now savor the victory. It is a remarkable moment in the history of this country - a moment few people thought they would ever see: 145 years after the end of slavery, a black man has been elected president of the United States.

Now, a black man's face is the one America presents to the world. Now, Barack Obama's story is the story of the "real America" - not the one misidentified by the campaign of John McCain and Sarah Palin as including only those inhabiting small towns, but the one that belongs to all of us: city, suburbs, small town; black, white, Latino, Asian; blue collar, white collar and pink collar. This is the "real America" - increasingly diverse, its once impervious barriers of race and class more porous than ever. For a long time, the best way to predict the future was to view the past, but that may not be true anymore in America, which in itself is a stunning new reality

The extraordinary story of Obama's victory is not just his race. And his victory is not just the White House.

His victory has been in the bridge he built that linked so many aspects of America, across red and blue states, among old and young, among all political parties.

That bridge is what we all stand on today. And from this bridge, we can all hope.

In our endorsement of Barack Obama, we said he was big enough for this moment.

Now that America has spoken, its meaning clear, we, too, proved ourselves big enough for this moment as well. *