A Personal Reaction

Tuesday night, November 4, 2008 will be a night I will forever remember. About 9:00pm the phone rang. It was my African American mother-in-law calling to ask what I thought. President-elect Barack Obama had just finished his speech. It was hard for me to talk. Because I could not stop crying. I told her I could not believe Barack had won. And she said, “I know, neither can I!” Before the Iowa primary, we had talked about the possibility of Obama winning the nomination from Hillary. When he won that night, I remember her asking me whether I though he had a chance. It was then that I saw something. A flash of hope in her eyes I had never seen in my 33 years of knowing her. It was the same look I saw in the eyes of thousands of people later that month when I went to an Obama rally in Las Vegas. In the eyes of Latinos, African Americans, Asians, young people, old folks, and people who look like me, just an ordinary white guy. There is no way I can explain the astonishment that I am feeling right now. Because now when my son has kids and one of my little grandchildren climbs up onto my lap and says one day he or she wants to be President of the United States of America, I can truthfully say, “Yes you can!” For another take, here is what James Manning at Peace on That had to say. Note to all. This will be my last post on the elections of 2008. I also will not be commenting on others blogs as they are related to current political events. We are now in a time of transition and I believe, as I have said in the past, that since Barack Obama has not taken office yet that we should keep our carping to ourselves. Nothing will be served at this point to belabor the facts, or indulge those who still want to hammer the supposed socialism of President elect Obama, or the presumed lack of intelligence of Sarah Palin. It is now time for us to try and come together as Americans of all stripes, hoping and praying for the best for both our current and future political leadership.