Celebrities celebrate Barack Obama

“I’m so [expletive deleted] happy right now.”

-- Madonna  (Ryan Remiorz / Associated Press)

“YES WE CAN!”

-- Lindsay Lohan  (Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)

“YES WE DID!”

-- Samantha Ronson  (Evan Agostini / Associated Press)

“HI MOM, OBAMA WON!”

-- Kanye West  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

“This will go down in history, in black history, for all of the sacrifices that the great Joseph Lowery and Martin Luther King made, this actually pays off for their sacrifice. The great Rosa Parks.... So many people sacrificed for us to have a voice. It was one thing to have a voice, but to eventually know the best way to use it and then it grows into this, it’s just incredible. I’m speechless. I don’t even know what to say.”

-- Usher, to “Access Hollywood”  (Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images)

“I congratulate President-elect Obama on his historic victory, and now it’s time to begin unifying the country so we can take on the extraordinary challenges that this generation faces.”

-- George Clooney, in a statement  (Dan Kitwood / Getty Images)

“I felt like my vote was the vote that put him into office. It was down to one vote, and that was going to be my vote. And that may not be true, but that’s how much power it felt like I had.”

-- Diddy  (Jeff Fusco / Getty Images)

“I got up at 7:20 this morning, and I voted for Barack. I haven’t had this much optimism in a long time. Tonight is historic!”

-- Ethan Hawke  (Evan Agostini / Associated Press)

“Thank you Barack Obama for making me believe again in the American dream.”

-- Jamie Lee Curtis, on the Huffington Post  (Gus Ruelas / Associated Press)

“Our world is changing. It’s changing right now, and I’m so happy to contribute to that.... I am excited, and I’m going to take a picture of it.”

-- Brandy  (Brad Barket / Getty Images)

“In seeing the amount of people that were able to gather with enthusiasm, ignited and ready to move this country in a fresh direction under Barack Obama, I think he has a gift. And I think with everyone’s support and prayers, he has the ability to really move us in a new place.”

-- Elisabeth Hasselbeck, on “The View”  (Matt Stroshane / Getty Images)

“For me, this was a triumph over negative campaigning. And I appreciate that about Americans today. That they didn’t fall for the Jeremiah Wright ads and this association baloney. They went for themselves. For the country. And it’s such a wonderful feeling.”

-- Joy Behar, on “The View”  (Neilson Barnard / Getty Images)

“I took my son with me and he kept saying, ‘Barack Obama, we did it! We did it!’ We’ve always had these limitations on us. And I remember somebody in my family, when I said I wanted to be a comic and an actor, said, ‘Go get a job at the post office; they don’t let people like us do that.’ So to look at my son and say, ‘No limitations on you.’ It is an extraordinary day for me to be able to tell my son.”

-- Sherri Shepherd, on “The View”  (Mark Davis / Getty Images)

“I didn’t cry last night. But this morning I was brushing my teeth and they had an excerpt of Martin Luther King. I remember that. It was 1963, and I found myself crying. It struck me so that I’ve asked to just play a little bit of that for you who are too young to remember and for those of you who remember, and finally his dream came true.”

-- Barbara Walters, on “The View”  (Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images)

“Hope is strange when it actually comes through. It’s weird. Pinch yourself. Remember where you are standing. I am proud to be a part of history in the making.”

-- Pete Wentz  (Matt Sayles / Associated Press)

“The vision of the hip-hop generation and its young people is in full and glorious effect tonight. While many older Americans, who marched and struggled so hard so Sen. Obama could run for president of the United States, never dared to believe in his candidacy’s real potential, young people, particularly the hip-hop community, had faith, and their imagination became our reality.”

-- Russell Simmons  (Erik S. Lesser / Associated Press)