“All your base are belong to us.” The old dawn-of-the Web refrain has been echoing in my head ever since I first heard John McCain talking about how Sarah Palin had excited “the base.” If John McCain had a base and Sarah Palin had excited it, could Democrats hope to claim it on election day?

As recently as a month ago, I seriously wondered if it could really happen. Back then, it seemed inconceivable that Nevada—much less any of the other “tossup” states—could turn blue. I read a newspaper editorial that floated the notion. Impossible, I thought at the time. Clark County, maybe, but the whole state? Nah.
Fast forward to tonight. Not only did Nevada turn a lovely shade of azure, so did enough other states to send Barack Obama to the White House. What seemed a pipe dream has come to pass.

“Excuse me, but—” a young man spoke to me as I left the victory party this evening in Las Vegas. I looked at him, thinking he probably wanted to know what time it was or where to find a restroom.

“Is this real?” he asked. “I mean—did that just really happen? Did we really just elect Obama?”

I looked at him, and we both laughed. “You’re not dreaming,” I said, “unless we both are.”

We hugged. Yes, I hugged a perfect stranger because we’d both just witnessed something that still seems slightly surreal. A majority of flag-waving corn-fed Americans just elected Barack Hussein Obama president! While I couldn’t be in Chicago to celebrate the moment with the President-elect in person, I was at the next-best thing, the party at the Rio sponsored by the Nevada Democratic Party.

The crowd was huge and happy, even before the decisive returns came in. People munched on hors d’oeuvres while they watched the big monitor at the front of the room. Many held signs that read “ONE NATION.” Many sported stickers that said “I voted.”

The crowd grew, filling the enormous ballroom wall to wall. A man climbed on the stage, took the mike, and welcomed everyone.

“I’ve been informed by the fire marshal that the room has now reached its capacity,” he went on to say. “What this means is, if you leave, you won’t be able to come back in. If you need a restroom, please use the ones through the doors on the right.”

The room erupted in an eardrum-busting explosion of approval. The man looked stunned. The roar grew louder. At last the man turned and looked at the giant monitor behind him.

Barak Obama had just racked up enough electoral votes to claim victory.

I can’t tell you how long the roar continued. I was too busy roaring myself. All around me, people laughed, cried, hugged, screamed, cheered, clapped, and danced. It was as though we had all been let out of prison at once. It was as though we had all won the lottery. It was as though a new day had dawned, a new leaf had been turned, we’d all won new cars, landed our dream jobs, and found out the bump wasn’t malignant. It was unabashed joy, overwhelming relief, and speechless incredulity. It went on and on and on, subsiding at long last into a happy hum. The smiles never did go away, and the roaring revved up again, first when McCain gave his concession speech and then when Obama delivered his acceptance.

As I made my way through the still-dense forest of signs that read “ONE NATION,” I was already thinking about what I’d write when I got home. “All your base are belong to us.” I planned it way back when it seemed impossible, but now that the impossible had occurred, it just seems silly.

Unless… ONE NATION. Yeah, I like that message. We can be different and still be one. So, how’s this instead?

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO U.S.