Waiting for the Obama victory was not easy.

On the one hand I knew McCain-Palin would not bring the changes that I wanted to see in a unified America.

But on the other hand, I was scared of a last-minute Florida-style glitch, the kind that gave George W. Bush the victory back in 2000 elections.

This time the margin was over 7 million popular votes. Too wide to deny.

McCain lost me the day he announced Palin as his running mate. That kind of deep bow to political expediency and lack of judgment really sealed the deal for me. I couldn’t have voted for a ticket which contained the potential of a Palin Presidency. I had my conservative values but I wasn’t mad either.

Yet, while delivering his concession speech last night, McCain reverted to his own true form, to his unabashed love for America, a core that might have won him the election if he stayed true to himself. But he didn’t. He stooped down low to “play politics” for votes and he lost.

Obama refused to take the bait. He stayed “presidential,” calm under fire, centered despite all kinds of sudden blows from every direction. He won our admiration, trust and the biggest load that can be placed on any set of mortal shoulders.

Now we can all exhale.

Mr. Barack Hussein Obama. Senator and now The President-Elect. We welcome you and celebrate what you mean for us!

Folks, lest you forget, as late as in 1964, until the ratification of the 24th Amendment, American voters had to pay a Poll Tax in some states of this great country before they could vote in federal elections. The tax continued for the state and local elections in four states until the 1966 Supreme Court case Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections.

The poll tax made it impossible for many poor blacks and minorities to vote.

And 42 years later, we have this: the first African-American candidate who deserved to be where he is today.

If you followed the world press during the last 18 months, a great majority of foreign commentators and some of my foreign-national acquaintances were almost unanimous in their opinion that Obama "would not be allowed" to become the next President of the United States.

Well, AMERICA HAS WON the wager.

Our New Hope is going to need a lot of help to put our country back on its feet again. Lots of service and sacrifice.

How about reviving a JFK-style sense of volunteerism in our communities and neighborhoods?

Can you teach how to read and write to the neighborhood kids? Can you mentor high school students? Can you devote a few hours of your time for helping others at your local homeless shelter or soup kitchen? The possibilities are endless.

“Giving back” should be our new mantra. That would be the only truly meaningful way to celebrate and welcome this new era in our history.