It's just begun

IT IS OFFICIAL. Barack Obama is president-elect of the United States of America. It came faster than many people thought. Just a sudden flash and then there he was speaking. Students gathered around the Ithaca College campus in celebration as likely many other campuses and places across the country.

I was amazed by how quickly results came in. It seemed like the polls had just closed in a handful of states and Obama suddenly had more than 100 electoral votes, according to CNN. I watched other people around me, all glued to their computer screens. Some on NYTimes.com, others looking at CNN. I wondered if it were possible that Obama could already be at a supreme advantage so early in the night.

CNN called states earlier than other news outlets called precincts. Some people around me, like me, couldn't believe how fast the results were coming in. However, it was a clear, decisive victory for Obama. The desire of CNN to be the first to project a state for either candidate showed the news outlet's disrespect and disregard for the process and for the American people.

But media prevailed in other ways. In new, innovative ways. User-generated content on sites like YouTube displayed an audience interaction incomparable to anything before. As the Internet grows as more people's primary news source for election coverage, it will be exciting to see how independent media covers the 2012 election, the 2016 election, and even the 2040 election.

More post-election blogging to come.