Terry Moran on Obama Celebrations: 'the Jubilation,' 'the Pride'

"Nightline" reporter Terry Moran extolled Barack Obama's victory celebration on Wednesday's program and insisted that "so many people greeted this election as a human rights milestone and a repudiation of the deeply unpopular President George W. Bush." Reporting from Chicago, the site of Obama's victory celebration, Moran reflected on "the echoes of this moment when America astonished itself and the world again."

Musing about the night, the journalist cooed, "No one who was in Grant Park in Chicago last night will ever forget it. The jubilation. The emotion. The pride." Moran, who has been fawning over Obama for two years, described the election as "a political earthquake, and a moment in American history that millions of people around the world celebrated." He later glowingly elaborated, "People across the world joined the party, seeing in the triumph of Barack Obama, the American capacity to achieve the unthinkable."

Moran's barely restrained joy at Obama's victory is hardly a surprise, considering the way he famously raved about Obama way back in November of 2006. On the November 6, 2006 edition of "Nightline," exactly two years ago, Moran rhapsodized about the Democrat's potential:

TERRY MORAN: You can see it in the crowds. The thrill, the hope. How they surge toward him. You're looking at an American political phenomenon. In state after state, in the furious final days of this crucial campaign, Illinois Senator Barack Obama has been the Democrat's not-so-secret get-out-the-vote weapon. He inspires the party faithful and many others, like no one else on the scene today...And the question you can sense on everyone's mind, as they listen so intently to him, is he the one? Is Barack Obama the man, the black man, who could lead the Democrats back to the White House and maybe even unite the country?

A partial transcript of the November 5 segment, which aired at 11:35pm, follows:

TERRY MORAN: Good evening, everyone. I'm Terry Moran. It's the day after. The day after a political earthquake, and a moment in American history that millions of people around the world celebrated. And now, well now, comes the hard part, doesn't it? In Barack Obama's victory speech last night the president-elect warned that there will be difficult days ahead and that the work has just begun. And if he needed any reminder, the Dow Jones closed today down by nearly 500 points. That's the largest post election drop in the market's history. And it's not just the sinking economy, Mr. Obama will also inherit wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, the road ahead is tough, but for so many here in Chicago, where you could feel power shifting to, and around the world, today was a day to reflect and to wonder. President-elect laid low today, just a few fleeting pictures of him leaving the gym after a workout. A stop at home. A brief word to reporters. He headed in to meetings with his transition team. He was up late last night.

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: Hello, Chicago.

MORAN: Last night. The echoes of it lingered through the day. The echoes of this moment when America astonished itself and the world again. No one who was in Grant Park in Chicago last night will ever forget it. The jubilation. The emotion. The pride.

PEDESTRIAN (MALE): You can do anything in America.

SECOND PEDESTRIAN (MALE): I feel like a nightmare is over. And I feel like - I feel like we just have a future. I feel like - I feel like I've just woken up.

MORAN: Across the country, people flowed into the streets in natural, peaceful, spontaneous celebrations in Harlem, in Los Angeles, in Seattle. At historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta, they sang. People across the world joined the party, seeing in the triumph of Barack Obama, the American capacity to achieve the unthinkable.

GORDON BROWN (BRITISH PRIME MINISTER): This is a moment that will live in history as long as history books are written.

MORAN: From Kenya, birth place of Obama's father, to South Africa, to Berlin, to Australia, so many people greeted this election as a human rights milestone and a repudiation of the deeply unpopular President George W. Bush.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Good morning.

MORAN: The president himself spoke in the rose garden with generosity and keeping with an old tradition, with no trace of partisanship.

BUSH: It will be a stirring sight to watch President Obama, his wife Michelle and their beautiful girls step through the doors of the White House. I know millions of Americans will be overcome with pride at this inspiring moment that so many have waited so long.

MORAN: Condoleezza Rice who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama at a time when racists murdered black children in the terrible struggle of those years, Condi Rice offered this.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: I just want to close on a personal note. As an African American, I'm especially proud because this is the country that's been through a long journey in terms of overcoming and making race not the factor in our lives. That work is not done, but yesterday was obviously an extraordinary step forward.