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.
