I didn’t think it would happen. 

Eight years under a president — I want to say a regime — whose world view did not match mine had made me feel as if the country and I were drowning in a sea of mud. 

His mission, it seemed, was to replace objective reality with a set of agenda-driven fake facts, which he then used as alibis for impulsive irrationality.

Eight years of the Bush mud had convinced me that the country had been hooked up to an alternative reality where one plus one no longer equaled two, and that rational thought had been ripped from public life. The principles set out by Plato in The Republic — the self-control, discipline and deep thought necessary for leadership — had been replaced with howling self-interest, just as, on Wall Street, the fine logic of simple arithmetic had been replaced  by the drunken calculations of the gambler on a 4 AM high.

European friends clamored for Barack Obama; I told them that America was not yet evolved enough to vote for him. The present administration’s total disregard for objective reality had spun me into a sense of powerless resignation. I was angry, cynical, but also timid. I did not make calls for Obama or go to Pennsylvania as most of my friends and acquaintances seem to have done, the ones who did not go to Nevada. I had done all that for John Kerry.

I did not dare hope.

The audacity of hope, a great title, seemed a wonderful literary conceit.

Anna Wintour, who has put all her energy behind Obama, heard me say on Monday that I was scared.

“It’s a landslide” she said, all confidence.

Last night I sat at the house of friends, the same small group who had watched the debates in utter silence.

When the announcement came, oh so early, everyone in the room suddenly stood and sang: “God Bless America.”

Standing in front of the TV screen as everyone had stood in front of TV screens on 9/11. This was the reverse of 9/11.

A communion in the contemplation of an unbelievable new reality.

Seven years ago the country was attacked.

Last night the country came back to its senses.

And how we long to idealize! In the short 90 minutes between the announcement of his win and his speech, Barack Obama became our leader. The sober speech, beginning with thanks to David Plouffe, emphasized every value that had been erased for eight years: discipline, focus, sacrifice. Inclusion. Humility. There was a hint of blood, sweat and tears. It will not be easy. He told no lies, and he was cautious.

The dial has been turned back to cause and effect.

This is what Barack Obama taught me last night: That the despair I had felt was as idiotic as the people who had caused it.

Reality has returned to seat of power. A sentient being of depth and measure will lead the world.

The scheming furries, having broken the world, withdraw, to let a man elegant in speech, thought and demeanor try to put it back together again.