President Barack Hussein Obama

It's been over 24 hours since Barack Obama won the election and became our President-Elect. The one thing I keep hearing from everyone is that they never believed this could happen in their life time. I disagree. I KNEW it would happen in mine. Not just that we would elect an African-American as president, but that we would elect Barack Obama as president.

Don't get me wrong, I had my doubts. Before this election, I have only been eligible to vote in the 3 previous elections and of those 3, the last 2 did not go the way I had hoped. I had no reason to believe that this one would go my way either. But I did have hope.

I remember 4 years ago when I was supporting John Kerry and I religiously watched the Democratic National Convention hoping to hear words that would inspire me from the party that I supported. That hope came from a then Illinois state senator who was running for a US Senate seat. I remember being mesmerized by his speech. I bought into his ideas of what America should be and how even with our differences, we are one. I knew at that point that he would some day become our first black president. What I hadn't imagined was that it would happen so soon.

I remember a dinner with family friends in early 2007 where the inevitable topic of politics came up and I made the comment that if Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I would volunteer for his campaign. In early 2007, November of 2008 seemed so far away and the idea of Barack Obama not only winning the Democratic nomination but actually the presidency seemed unfathomable. Then the months went by. I was told by many people that this was Hillary Clinton's to win and no way would our country vote for a black man for president. A lot of these conversations were with my own family and I found myself getting emotional having these conversations. I truly believed that the people that wouldn't vote for him because he was black wouldn't vote for ANY democrat, especially not Hillary Clinton. I was convinced that the country was not the way my family viewed it. I believed that he could win.

I didn't waiver in coming months. Instead, I became even more energized as I followed his campaign through the primaries. I religiously watched all the debates and all the news commentary. I was blown away by the speeches Obama gave and believed in the vision he had for this country. I was excited about his choice of VP as well. Through the Democratic debates, Joe Biden had quickly become my second favorite. By the time the Democratic Convention came around, I was pumped and sure of a Obama/Biden win in November.

For the Labor Day long weekend, I had planned on driving up to New Jersey/Philadelphia with my family to visit my cousin. I drove to my parents house from work on the last day of the convention at lightning speeds in the hopes that I would make it in time to see Obama make his acceptance speech. I thought it was pure fate that Obama got to accept the nomination of his party on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. It all seemed to fitting...like it was meant to be. The next day, we left for our trip, a 10 hour drive up to Northern Virginia. In the morning, I had checked the news stations to see if McCain had named his VP choice yet and he had not. All through the day, I drove my brother crazy asking him to check the news with his new Apple iPhone to see if McCain had made his announcement. Then the news came. He let me know that it was a female governor of Alaska. He showed me a picture to which my dad replied, "She's an attractive lady...the Republicans will like that." My heart fell to my stomach. Of course at the time I had no idea what type of woman Palin would be. I assumed she was an intelligent, well spoken woman who would take a way a lot of the Hillary Clinton supporters. I felt that McCain had made a smart choice and that it would help elect him the next president which put me in a depressed mood. The rest of the trip didn't help to change my mood. Conversation everywhere kept turning to the campaign, the the consensus of the people around me seemed to be that there was no way the majority of Americans would vote for a black man.

I had pretty much given up at that point. But by the time I got back to Georgia, I decided that I couldn't just give up like that. I decided that I had to do something about it so that even if Obama lost, I could at least feel like I did all I could. I remembered the promise I had made earlier and decided to volunteer for his campaign. I met some amazing people while canvassing and knocking on doors. I was surprised by the types of people I met from all different backgrounds who all were voting for Obama. That's when I started believing again that this was still possible. If there was such support for him in my little Atlanta suburb, an area that is traditionally very Republican then I knew there were people all over the country that were supporting Obama as well. After that, I never stopped believing that we could win. All around me, I still felt doubt but I was convinced that we would win. The polls and pundits backed me up while others around me cried Bradly effect. I decided that even if it came across as naivety, I would still be firm in my belief that Obama's race no longer mattered and that the people were supporting him because of the things he stood for...because he was an intelligent, well spoken man...because they were sick of the administration from the last 8 years.

When I stood in line for 3 hours to early vote, I was not surprised by the long line and all the people around me. Once I got to the polling machine, I had to pause and take in the moment. I voted for Obama and then had to step back for a second and let the moment sink in. Last night, I was convinced he would win. I watched the results come in. I celebrated when he was declared the winner. I was touched by McCain's concession speech. I was even more touched watching Jesse Jackson cry as he listened to Obama's speech. Then seeing the people erupt with joy, not just in cities in the US but all across the country made me realize how important this election was and it really was history in the making.

I am proud to say I was a part of this even in some small capacity.

How we decide to vote

I've always been into politics and I don't remember when it all started. I also have always been a "liberal" for as long as I can remember...even before I knew what it meant. I sometimes wonder what determines who we vote for. Is it our family? Our friends? The community in which we grow up? Or do we make our own choices without letting any of that effect us? I mean I definitely know families that are very conservative yet they have that one child that's completely a free spirit and is totally opposit. Or the families that are liberal, but manage to raise a child with conservative views. I remember back during the 96 election, I was helping a friend in college do interviews regarding the election. She would ask each person who they were planning on voting for and their reasons why. One thing definitely sticks out in my mind...many of the people we asked didn't really have a reason and quite a few said because their families were voting for the same candidate. It made me start thinking if I did the same. Did I vote the way I do because of my parents?

For me that was not the reason. For the longest time I didn't know where my dad fell into the political spectrum...was he more of a red state or a blue state? What I do remember is that when I was in 3rd grade, I was one of two people in our whole class who voted for Walter Mondale in the mock elections. The reason? I liked that he had a female Vice Presidential candidate. What did I know a 7? I don't remember ever hearing my parents or other people around me talking about it but that was my decision. Starting with the 88 elections, I became hooked. I'd stay up and watch the debates and the news and the Conventions and I chose a candidate to root for. And again, I was one of the few in our whole school who voted for Dukakis in the mock election. I knew he would lose, but I was still proud of the way I voted because I felt I at least I knew why I was voting for him unlike many of my classmates who were voting the way their parents were voting. By the 92 election, I realized that my parents were Democrats too. I also realized as time passed that the community I grew up in, the people that I was around most frequently all tended to be quite liberal as well. So I always wondered if I was a product of my environment in a subconscious way?

George Stephanopoulos wrote an article for Parade Magazine titled "How to be a Better Voter": http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_06-29-2008/2Voter

I like the things that he has to say. That we can't just base our votes based on whether or not we would want to hang out and have a beer with this candidate. There's more to it. We have to think of the future generations and decide who is going to be create a better world for them. I love election years and all the talk about politics everywhere. I hope people out there that are planning on voting this year take the time to really research the different candidates. I hope many do what George says in his article and really think about the issues that are important to them and then find the candidate that best fits. George says in his article that he feels that the American people have rarely gotten it wrong. I don't know that I agree with him on that (but then again, I've only seen 6 elections in my life) but I hope this time America does get it right.

Rand Knight for US Senate

Yesterday as I was driving home, I noticed a bunch of campaign signs when stopped at a red light. One was for a Rand Knight who is running for a seat in the Senate and the name automatically caught my attention.

You see when I was about 15 or so, my best friend in high school got me addicted to a series of books called The Wheel of Time that were written by Robert Jordan. The main character of the books is named Rand. It always sounded like a very strong and powerful name to me. Add that with the last name like Knight and the fantasy novel reading kid in me was mesmerized. That's it! I'm voting for this guy! I didn't stop to think if he was a Democrat or Republican as I vowed to vote for him and continued to drive home. I had no idea what he stood for or what his campaign was all about. I just knew that I was voting for him because I loved his name.

It's not the first time I've chosen a politician for his name. Back in 92, the same best friend that I mentioned above and I were in a Political Science class together along with some other friends. When it came time to write a report on one of the many people running for president, we decided on Paul Tsongas. Why? We liked his name. There was something cool about the silent T in his last name. He went on to win the New Hampshire primary if I remember correctly, but then was quickly over shadowed by a man named William Jefferson Clinton.

I think I've always had a fascination with names. Maybe part of it is because my own name is unusual itself. Combine it with my last name and it's usually not something people forget easily. I still run into people from years and years ago who still remember me for my name. It's such a part of my identity that I can't ever imagine having another one.

Anyway, in case you were wondering...I did Google Mr. Rand Knight as soon as I got home: http://www.knightforsenate.com/index.asp. To my relief, he is indeed a Democrat. His beliefs are very similar to mine. Thank god because I'm not sure what I would have done if he had been a Republican. Cool name or not, I don't think I could have voted for a Republican. So here I am, doing my little part in getting the word out. I doubt people will actually be reading my blog, but if you are, go check out his website and vote for Rand Knight, the guy with the coolest name running for Senate. It's definitely a much cooler name than Saxby Chambliss which is a good a reason as any to vote for him!

The Blogging Thing

I got back from a girls' weekend in Savannah yesterday and finally decided to give this blogging thing a try. As we were eating dinner at Uncle Bubba's (yes that's the real name of the place...the guy is Paula Deen's brother), we were talking about silly nick names and I mentioned that at the height of Ricky Martin-mania, I used to get Livin' La Vida Lopa as a nick name all the time. Farihah thought it would be a great name for a blog...so here I am. Not sure that the blog will be about one topic in particular, but I'm looking forward to having a place to write down my thoughts.