Traveling/teaching in the USA just now i am quite aware of the difference in the overall vibration and the hope/expectations of the populus at large. I found the excerpts below to be most demonstrative as to what this energy feels like just now.
As Sam Smith has written: "Obama is not a catalyst of change, but rather
its beneficiary."
Here are two essays that capture some of the essence of other important
themes in Obama's victory:

"Obama is the first postmodern president": http://tinyurl.com/68yyb8

"Very smart people are thinking and talking in serious conversations from
which narrow ideologues have been rigorously excluded":
http://tinyurl.com/68dsrh
Now I want to mention two big caveats about this monumental shift in
the collective destiny of America.
First, Obama and his team have a lot of work to do. That's why I endorse
many of the points listed on these two websites:
http://tinyurl.com/6qb3vm
The first 100 days: What Obama can do to address the cratering
economy, broken healthcare system, two wars, poverty and inequality,
and the stained US reputation in the world.
and here:
http://fixthisbarack.com
Fix This, Barack
Second we Americans have a lot of work to do. The resuscitation of our
country will have to be accomplished primarily by we-the-people, and as
much on the local level as in the federal realm.
This won't just be a matter of political organization. It will also require us
to be continually at work on ourselves, purging the parts of us that
resonate in harmony with the dying world and feeding the parts of
ourselves that are capable of creating a paradise-on-earth.