I don’t care who you voted for….the end result is historic.
You voted. You went to the polls in record breaking numbers. You stood in long lines; some braved rain and cold. Some of you were voting for the very first time. You voted for McCain and Palin. You voted for Obama and Biden.
Maybe you made your choice based on the state of the economy…maybe it was the war in Iraq…maybe you wanted ‘a change’, maybe you were longing for a ‘maverick’.
You know the end result as well as I do….Barak Obama is the President-Elect. Maybe this thrills you to your core, maybe it left you shaking your head. Either way, you likely aren’t ambivalent..and that is FANTASTIC. This election made people care. It inspired people to exercise one of the rights that makes the United States a special place. How phenomenal is that?
Hundreds of thousands of you were in Grant Park last night to watch history as it opened like a flower facing the sun. The crowd was this eclectic mix of people…young and old, all races.
I have never, ever, in my lifetime witnessed a political event inspire so many people….or a political figure inspire a crowd like Obama does. Even if you don’t agree with his politics, I think there is something magical about him.
I am proud to live in a country that allows its people to vote for the person they want running the country and representing them to other nations. I heard two things today that made me pause and take a deep breath: there was an African American man being interviewed with his young son; when asked his take on Obama’s win, he said, now, he can look his son in the face and mean it when he tells him he can do or be anything. As a parent, I have never had a doubt when telling my kids the same thing. I love that this election has given parents extra confidence.
The second moment for me was hearing a professor say that Obama’s election does not signal a change in race relations, rather, a change in the climate of race relations allowed Obama to win the Presidency. In a way, that means, we had come a long way – even before last night. And I think that is tremendous.
I can’t wait until my kids are old enough that I can share this experience with them.
Leave a Reply