Hope, Change, Defeat
We are now, for the most part, in the ending moments of the 2008 election in the United States. History is being made. Barack Obama has won Virginia - and with it the office of President of the United States of America. I've been sitting at my computer watching as the votes have come in, as Virginia and Florida and Indiana started out McCain and then slowly crept toward Obama until the gates finally came down.

And this is a historic moment, without a doubt. After nearly two and a half centuries, our country has elected the first African-American man into the office of president. If projections hold out, Obama is in for a very decisive victory, and the Senate and House are both poised to start swinging the country in a different direction. A large-scale change is in the country's course now, and Obama is just the first and most visible of the many changes taking place all across the country.

Despite all of this? I find myself thinking mostly about John McCain.

I picture him sitting in his nerve center - tired, weary, and hopeful. He's had a staunch goal, a single guiding purpose. For years, he has known what he's here for and what he's going to do, and he knows that despite everything that the pundits say - damn it, this is his time. He is going to make this happen now, finally.

I picture his face as Pennsylvania is called. And then Virginia.

I picture an aging man, a man who has given his all for his nation and its people, a man whose missteps on a campaign trail were borne out of a genuine desire to do right by his country. And I see him sitting, watching, seeing his last chance evaporate.

"No," he must be thinking. "Not like this. This isn't fair."

And it's not.

According to CNN, McCain has now called to concede to his opponent. A call that signals, for him, that years of working and hoping and trying have ultimately ended in defeat.

Whoever you voted for or supported - know that tonight, two good men went against one another, and no matter who won someone was going to lose. No matter who won, a dream and a hope would be put down and lost.

I can't stop thinking about John McCain. I wish it could have ended differently.