As the returns came in last night and the celebrations began, I asked several of my friends and family why they were celebrating... because I wanted to hear their unique perspectives.

The answer was almost unanimously, "because we just elected the first black president."

I too am ecstatic that we have elected our first black President, but this is only part of the reason we should be celebrating. We should also be celebrating the death of the excuse that we can't achieve whatever we set our minds to, because of racism or because of limitations connected to the color of our skin.

In an era when we have at least two black billionaires (Oprah and Bob Johnson) and now a black President-Elect, there is absolutely nothing that keeps blacks from achieving any successes they set their minds to, which is what I've realized for a long time.

I've had a good deal of success in my career and oftentimes I've been the only black person at my level, which caused me to reflect. As I talked to my coworkers I realized that they were more curious about black people than racist. When they realized that I was an asset to their organization they embraced me and gave me opportunities to advance, just like they were given. If I felt like I had gone as far as I could on that particular job, I moved on and I've done well.

I learned that white people do associate closely with each other, just as we do, but not because of racism, but because of culture. It is human nature to associate with people that are most like you, but maturity forces you outside your comfort zone to take part in new experiences.

As a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign staff, I felt conflicted watching Obama's meteoric rise. I supported Hillary, but secretly cheered for him... because I knew what an Obama victory would mean to black America and our conversations regarding race relations.

No longer would it be a pipe dream when black children said that they wanted to be President when they grew up. No longer would blacks be able to say that "The Man" was holding us down on our jobs. No longer would we be able to say that racism was keeping us from moving forward as a people.

An Obama victory would be a conversation changer.

Now that Obama is poised to take office in January, we can focus on what really keeps so many of us from being successful... our attitudes.

The names Oreo, Token, Uncle Tom are just as harmful as the N-word, particularly because they come from our own people, almost always when we strive for success that is not normally equated with the black experience.

I wonder how many times Obama has been called one of those names as he dared to attend an Ivy League school and how often young students are called sellouts for daring to do their best in their studies and other endeavors.

It is time for the perception that certain behaviors, manners of speech or actions are inherently white to disappear. We have the same access to success as everyone else and Barack Obama is evidence of that fact.

We are forced to take note of the fact that in spite of the white citizens that refused to vote for Barack Obama because of the color of his skin, there were even more that voted for him in spite of it.

Barack Obama's success makes us take an honest appraisal of our own lives and question whether or not we've done everything we can to be where we think we should be in our careers, lives and otherwise.

The path to success is not limited to Barack Obama... it is available to each of us whether we are black, hispanic, asian or white.

Barack Obama's victory was a victory not just for Black America, but for all of America, and would not have been possible if race had not been made a secondary issue in the election.

We will always see color, but that does not and should not prevent us from being whatever we want to be.

Thank you President Obama!