Just how historic was the election?

The running count on the number of times this month’s presidential election has been referred to as “historic” now stands at 1,658,825,127.

All the well, though. It was historic.

But how historic was it, really? It will be years before we can really tell for sure. I’m of the mind set that at least 30 years or so have to pass before we can really get a sense of how an event will play out in the annals of history. For instance, though some people are ready to add his visage to Mount Rushmore, I think it’s still too early to begin to evaluate what the history books will say about Ronald Reagan. The same goes for George Bush (the elder), as well as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. And we're just beginning to get a real sense of how people like Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon figure in the tale of America.

So obviously, we have a long way to go before we can even start to guess about what the history books will say about Barack Obama.

That said, we do know that he will forever be the first African-American elected president of the United States, and there’s no doubt that’s noteworthy. In fact, the night of Nov. 4, I let my kids stay up late to watch some of the election results come it, for the sole purpose of giving them a memory of that historic night. I want them to be able to tell their grandchildren about how they remember the first time a black person was elected president of the United States.

My older sister has a similar memory. Though she was only about 3 1/2 at the time, she remembers being forced to watch television the night Richard Nixon became the first — and only — president to resign from office. Our father — a U.S. history teacher — was keenly aware of the historic significance of the event, and he wanted her to be able to remember the night it happened.

That’s what happens when you grow up in the household of a U.S. history teacher … you learn to appreciate history as it happens.

That’s probably why I’ve often contemplated the events of my own lifetime and wondered which will be the ones that end up in prominent places in the history books. I was technically alive at the time of Nixon’s resignation, and at the end of the Vietnam War, though I was too young to remember either. For a long time, I counted the fall of communism — perhaps best encapsulated by the dismantling of the Berlin Wall — to be the most significant historic event that I had witnessed.

Other events which stand out are things like the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and the Columbine massacre.

Of course, then Sept. 11 happened, and there was no longer much debate about the single-most historic day of my lifetime. I think we all remember how we spent that morning, and we’re all preparing stories of that one for our grandchildren.

And now, we have the election of Barack Obama, to add to the mix. In evaluating the historic events of the last 36 years or so, the 2008 presidential election will surely have a place. After all, in a nation that has been largely defined by race relations since its inception, the rise of our first black president is without a doubt something that will be long remembered.

But I’ll hold back from saying just how historic it has been for a few years. I’d say somewhere around 2038 or so, we’ll be able to accurately begin to weigh Obama’s place in American history.

Until then, I can only say I’m proud to be able to say I’ve witnessed it.