I feel compelled to add something today because of the history that was made last evening with the election landslide for Barack Obama. While John McCain did a respectable job of raising votes, the electorals went to Obama, and my family and I have witnessed history in the making. Jesse Jackson stood in tears as he watched something he was not sure he would see in his lifetime.
I lived in the south when Martin Luther King was assassinated, and I was only about five or six years old, but I have to say that the mood of the people was frightening and the great loss to our country was palpable and I understood it in my heart. I can only imagine the jubilation felt by the King family last evening and the promise that Obama’s victory can bring. Someone like Martin Luther King in our government has been missing for a very long time and if Obama can get beyond the hand tied politics of the past, I think that we can make this country great again. And, if lucky, we can even create a unity that has been slowly slipping away as of late.
I did not vote for Obama because, frankly, I was fearful of his lack of experience. I was reassured with his selection of Senator Biden, as I know that, while extremely intelligent, educated, and enlightened, Obama will need to surround himself with people who have “been around the block,” so to speak, and can bring experience to the White House. I am looking forward to great changes and exciting things for our country. I hope it can happen. Politics as usual tends to seep back in and apologies have to be made.
Most importantly, I am looking forward to future elections when the limits are endless because of the victory last evening. It is a shame that it took forty years before this country was ready for an African American in the White House. It is now like a gushing spring of untapped possibilities! I love what Obama wants to bring forward and see the enthusiasm and confidence his youth adds. I am all the more ready to see a women in this position and hope that in 2012 the candidates are confident that it is a possibility. Sarah Palin proved that it isn’t far away. It is only a matter of time.
Congratulations, Senator Obama! Please show us that you have what it takes to lead a country in such need of repair, new direction, and understanding of what really matters. We are ready to see it.
