'Tis. Frank McCourt concluded his first book, and titled his second, with that one word. When, upon reaching American shores, the story-teller heard it was a great country, all he could do was agree in his Irish idiom.
Years ago, when I read it for the first time, I sneered at what I considered an unsatisfying ending to an otherwise great book. But in the early hours of Wednesday morning, trying to snatch a couple of hours of sleep after a night of jubilation, I couldn't help but think of that word.
Good countries navigate the course of history; great ones determine it. And once again, the US has revealed itself as a nation that does not shy away from the challenges of history with a retreat into the safe and known. A country desperately in need of change took a leap of faith, and started a new story.
Greatness revealed
The greatness revealed on Tuesday night was America's ability to constantly reinvent itself, and to retake the reins of history. But curiously, in a campaign both extraordinary and dramatic, what perhaps stood out most was a banality at the heart of the election. Barack Obama was elected not because he was black, nor because America was repaying a debt. He was elected because - after a long, gruelling campaign in the midst of a troubled time for the US - he emerged as the most obviously capable leader in the land.
In short, what to me stood out was not that Americans elected a black man to be president. It was that, in the final and perfect realisation of Martin Luther King Jr's dream, it no longer mattered that he was black. Americans could make no greater break with the past than that: to put race aside.
That is not to diminish the role played by African-Americans in this election. Indeed, this was arguably their night more than anyone else's. It is easy to forget that when Mr Obama first burst onto the American scene, African-American leaders were decidedly ambivalent about him. They questioned whether someone who had not descended of slaves, but of an African immigrant, could really call himself African-American. He had not shared their struggles.
This hesitancy lingered. Right up until early this year, the support of African-Americans for Mr Obama remained in doubt. Hillary Clinton's campaign actually tried to capitalise on this, counting on Bill Clinton's strong support among the US's black leadership to push him aside.
It was therefore striking that African-Americans decided, in the end, to take Mr Obama into their hearts. And once they did, they turned out in unprecedented numbers to support him - both in the primaries, and in the national election. It is probably not a stretch to say that had it not been for their acceptance of him as one of their own, Mr. Obama would not have been toasting his victory this morning. It is a testament to their own resilience and adaptability that African-Americans chose not to not let history bypass them.
The new chapter
If once, Frank McCourt's final, one-word chapter left me unhappy, today I cannot wait to see the new chapter in America's history begin.
And the story should not end there. I could not reflect on the fact that if America can make a black man president, we too should think about making history. Had I been asked, four years ago, what was more likely to happen in my lifetime - the US electing a black president; or Jamaica tackling its poverty, crime and suffering - I would have indicated the latter.
The gauntlet has been thrown down. It's for us now to make history.
John Rapley is president of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute(CaPRI) an independent think tank affiliated with the UWI, Mona. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com
