Why are people celebrating after the election?

The barber giving me a haircut today had heard Obama's speech last night right after the win and asked me, "Why were all those people celebrating? Barack Obama hasn't done anything yet?" I know he had been rooting for the other side. I told him that people who had been feeling hopeless before were now excited because they had some hope for change. He said, "Okay I understand." That made me feel good to think I had an influence in resolving his perplexity. His next question was, Why is it that Hamas and Hezbollah wanted Obama to win? I said that the reasons are complicated, This answer seemed not to satisfy him. But I added, Al Quaida apparently wanted McCain to win. I said this is another complex situation and maybe Al Quaida wanted McCain as a person who could be more easily identified as an enemy to their supporters. I think the barber may have understood my point, but am not sure. I told him I thought both the McCain and Obama speeches last night were excellent. He had not heard McCain's concession speech, which I think would have been helpful to him. He said that the outcome of the presidential election didn't affect him either way, because people still need haircuts. I didn't say any more. I wasn't about to get into too passionate a discussion with him while he was working with scissors in hand, but anyway I was happy to share a different point of view with him.