Here's to our nominee, Barack Obama!

From my inbox:

It's been a long journey, and we should all pause to thank Hillary Clinton, who made history in this campaign. Our party and our country are better off because of her.

I want to make sure you understand what's ahead of us. Earlier tonight, John McCain outlined a vision of America that's very different from ours -- a vision that continues the disastrous policies of George W. Bush.

But this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past and bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.

It's going to take hard work, but thanks to you and millions of other donors and volunteers, no one has ever been more prepared for such a challenge.

Thank you for everything you've done to get us here. Let's keep making history.

On this night, Tuesday, the 3rd of June, 2008, my heart swells with pride for our party, for our country, and for our world.

Tonight, Senator Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

Few can say they have lived as well-rounded and influential life as Barack Obama. The multiracial Obama, whose father hails from Kenya and whose mother was from Kansas, was born in Hawaii and spent time in Indonesia while growing up.

He left law school to work as a community organizer in Chicago to help deal with the needs of troubled neighborhoods. He eventually finished his law school work after having become the first African-American to edit the Harvard Law Review.

He spent eight years in the Illinois Senate before winning election to the US Senate in 2004. In both roles, he has established a track record of success in getting things done and advancing progressive causes.

And now, here we are, in the late spring of 2008. 793 years after the Magna Carta loosened a king's grip on England, 232 years after rebel patriots declared themselves free from the bonds of tyranny, 141 years after the abolition of slavery in this 'Land of the Free,' this party offers this nation - the land of the free, the home of the brave - the chance of a generation.

A chance to elect a real leader. A leader of impeccable character and integrity. A leader of high intelligence.

Someone ready to take on the role of leading all 300 million of us. To be a role model for school children everywhere - living proof that you can be whatever it is you want to be, if only you dedicate yourself. Living proof to all that obstacles are not impossible to overcome.

Early on, I must admit, I was skeptical. He was one of my top picks right from the get-go - along with Edwards and Richardson (I think I would have backed Wes Clark had he run) - but I was not convinced the 40-something junior senator from Illinois was ready for the toughest job in the world, at one of the most critical times in American history.

Winter turned into spring, spring to summer. I paid attention to what our field of candidates - diverse in race, personal background, experience, and policy ideas - had to say about why they were the one for which America has longed.

Wouldn't you know it, that young man - the youngest in the pack - kept convincing me time and time again that not only was he ready for the enormous burden of the Presidency, but that no one else running was quite as ready as him. And so I gave him my support.

And now, here we are. Five months after the Iowa Caucuses, five months before the general election, this primary season has finally come to an end.

We now know that the son of a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother will be the nominee of the Democratic Party - the Party of Jefferson and Jackson, the party of FDR, JFK, and LBJ, and the Party of Nobel winners Wilson, Carter, and Gore - to hold the office once held by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, U.S. Grant, TR, Silent Cal, FDR, Truman, and Ike.

As our nominee, Obama has made history. If elected, he will make even more history.

Far more important, he will work to make the future better for all of us.

So together, let's make it happen.