On November 4, 2008 Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. This was an historic moment in many ways, the most obvious being that he will be the first African-American President. I was sitting around yesterday thinking about what this means for our country and the world when it struck me that the first President my son (and other children his age) will remember will be Barack Obama. That barrier of color is now broken and seeing a black man in the highest office won't be anything new or strange, it won't be necessarily historic to his generation, it will just BE.
Somewhere around 136.6 million Americans voted in this election! That's pretty historic too! A 64.1% turnout, which would make it the highest voter turnout since 1908! Something about this election inspired people. Several women in my circle of friends were discussing the election yesterday and everyone of us agreed that this was the first election in our lifetimes that we really cared about. Everyone I have spoken to, whether Democrat, Republican or Independent all agree, this was a monumental election. I just think it's cool as shit that so many people got out there, stood in lines, voted early, sent in absentee ballots, whatever they needed to do to make their voices heard! Democracy at work, woo-hoo!
Although this event had historical significance for our country and our world, it also had significance for a skinny, little white girl in Central Texas! This honestly was the first election in my life that really meant something to me. The first time in my life that a candidate actually "spoke" to me. I wanted to be involved, I wanted to educate myself, I WANTED to vote! Many people may think I'm a sap, but watching Barack's victory speech gave me chills, made me cry and inspired me, not only to work harder in my own home with my own family, but to figure out a way to work harder for my community, my country and my world. Simply... it gave me hope. I'm not so naive to think that Barack Obama is going to solve all the world's ills, no President could, but I do believe that he will at least try to do his very best for our country. I don't envy him, the whole world is watching with baited breath to see if he will rise to the occasion or fall flat on his face. He has the hopes and dreams of many Americans riding on his shoulders, not a position I would want to be in! But he WILL be our next President and I, for one, am excited to see what the next four years will bring!
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1 comment:
Obama was inspiring to listen too lets hope he can come up with at least alf the goods :)
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