November 4, 2008

President Elect Barack Obama

I like the way that sounds.

We watched the returns with some friends, and I must say I was a nervous wreck until SOF and I heard them call Ohio. After Pennsylvania, Ohio was that must-have for McCain and I thought that was a very good sign for Obama. Obviously, that continued.

Couple of real memorable moments from tonight. One was watching McCain's very classy concession speech where he praised the historic nature of this race, and importantly called on all Americans to rally around this new President. He was very classy, and our entire group commented that he sounded a hell of a lot more like the 2000 version than the one we have seen mocking community organizing and women's health. This was not the man who chose a divisive and incompetent VP candidate. He did a very nice job.

The second was a shot of Jesse Jackson openly weeping. I am not a Jackson fan, and recognize so much of what he has done badly in his career and life. But his tears were not about him, or his career, or his tendency to play on that racial divide. It was one of those connections to MLK and that dream--a dream that was at least partially realized tonight.

Part of my relief is that I have been pulling for Obama from very early on. But a big part of it was that I wanted to believe that we could rise above race, and that we could choose someone to end the nightmare of the last 8 years. As Leighton said in the comments, the real work starts tomorrow. But tonight was a nice start. I can stop holding my breath and see if I can get a little sleep tonight. As our friend Anglican said tonight:
"God bless America. But not America alone. God bless us, every one"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

In my lifetime, I've lived under the administrations of two presidents, one democrat and the other republican. And today, I witnessed history - the election of my third president, Barack Hussein Obama. This is the first man of color to be elected as our nation's leader, but that's not the important thing -- his message of hope and change, with its slogan "yes we can", is.

And we certainly did! In my thirteen years so far, there have been many things to go down in the history books -- most recently, a war, a recession, and a global climate crisis. But now, there's something else to add, and it's positive this time. Yes, we can change the course of history -- with a little bit of hope. Yes, we can.

Monk-in-Training said...

In my lifetime I have lived under 'more than three' Presidents... ;)

This Psalm really hit me during my Noonday prayers yesterday.

Psalm 126 In convertendo
1When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, *
then were we like those who dream.
2Then was our mouth filled with laughter, *
and our tongue with shouts of joy.

Anonymous said...

We were at a watch party last night, complete with live band karaoke no less, and a good time was had by all. They called an intermission so we could watch the speeches (previously the results were being projected on a screen behind the band).

There were several highlights, aside from the cheers of the crowd itself as the returns came in. When McCain noted the particular importance of this historic occasion for African Americans, a white women on the dance floor shouted out "for fuckin' EVERYONE, man!" Yes we can. A close second was the man in his 60's who sang a blistering version of American Idiot and just really ROCKED it. Awesome. We might just be regulars there now - thanks, President Obama.

Streak said...

Well said, Alex, and thanks for the comment. This is an amazing moment for our country.