The End of the 9/11 Era

Blogger-writer Ezra Klein on what changed Tuesday night: “[Obama] robbed fear of its ability to work through quiet insinuation. He forced America to confront its own subconscious. Obama actually is black. His middle name actually is "Hussein." He actually does know William Ayers. He actually was married by Jeremiah Wright. He actually had lived in Indonesia. These were not smears, though they were often used as such. They were facts.” And yet America overcame them, emerged from the clouds of 9/11: “Fear proved but a temporary detour from our history’s long arc toward justice.”