November 4, 2008 is a day that will go down in the history books.  November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected to be the next President of the United States.  Being a Democrat, I am more than ecstatic.  I firmly believe that the nation has finally chosen a path towards healing itself.  Enough about politics because that isn’t what this post is all about.  This post is all about the events of today and the emotions that it evoked.

 

Michelle and I voted early fearing the rumors of lines at the polling places that would require waiting hours as opposed to minutes.  So, today, I was able to relax knowing that I had voted for what I thought would be the winning team, the team of the future.  I remember watching videos of the Obama’s going to vote at their local polling places and Obama taking his kids to school.  The soon to be first family trying to have as normal of a day as possible.  This, I think, is what makes Obama so likable, his apparent normalness.  A guy who makes references to football and clearly isn’t just making them to try and be just like you, he clearly cares and is genuine.  

 

By the time the results started coming in Obama had jumped out to an early lead, it was going to be a long, or short depending on which way you look at it, night for the McCain camp.  The political pundits had started talking seriously about how this was good for Obama and bad for McCain.  As the night wore on it became abundantly clear that Obama was outperforming McCain in places he should have been and places that were once thought to be staunch republican or battleground states as they call them.  Obama was closing in on victory and all that remained was for the west coast to report and it was all sewn up.  By 9:00 or so central time, CNN was making the prediction that Obama was going to win the Presidency.  

 

Maya was fast asleep by this point and had endured the returns in lieu of her normal dinner with Elmo or Barney.  Quite the trooper and little Obama supporter.  At any rate she is asleep and Michelle and I are talking about how amazing it is that the country has been able to recognize the fact that we are worse off than we were 8 years ago and that much of that may have been due to our choice of President.  

 

Obama seemed to be the perfect person for the perfect time.  His eloquent speeches, his calming demeanor, his all too perfect family all rolled into the perfect package for a new hope.  The American people by and large seem to be a people who take nearly everything that they have for granted.  I’m one of them, too often I find myself getting upset or bothered by the things that I do not have as opposed to the things I do have.  America is finally realizing that the things we are are not given, they are created and that they can be lost.  Our economy is in the worst shape it has been in since the great depression, jobs are being lost at an alarming rate, our homes are devaluing as a direct result of greed and people being taken advantage of, and our people are dying on foreign shores in a war that has been going on for the last 7 years.  Obama brings a fresh perspective and hopefully a path or plan towards/for redemption for the American people.  

 

Obama planned to give his winning speech at grant part in front of hundreds of thousands of people.  Michelle and I debated on whether or not we would venture down to see the festivities live.  People had begun arriving at the park as early as the morning of, but couldn’t get in until early evening to begin forming the crowded mass of devoted followers.  We ultimately decided not to go because we didn’t want to mess with Maya’s sleep schedule and decided that it would be just crazy downtown, not to mention, we didn’t have a ticket to get into the event and would have had to watch it on TV’s downtown anyway. So, we watched from home.  The coverage of the crowd showed a good cross section of the truly diverse following that Obama had amassed.  Black, white, hispanic, rich, poor, celebrity, nobody, politico, mom, dad, children, people in all their beautiful difference.  And finally Obama comes out and delivers a signature speech, reflecting, looking forward and at all times seeming like he was the right guy, he is the person who will help lead this country back to greatness and hopefully peace.  Watching the speech, it was easy to contemplate the situation, the magnitude of it all, the poignancy.  This was truly a defining moment, one of those rare events that you will always remember where you were when it happened.  It was one of those moments where you really felt proud to be a citizen of this great nation.  A moment where you felt like things were going to change for the better and that you banded together with the rest of your fellow Americans and spoke with a single voice.  I’ll admit, tears welled at that moment.  The speech ended and we went to bed with a renewed sense of trust and belief that just maybe, things will be different now that we have someone else at the helm, at least trying to make things better.  Hopefully, Obama will turn out to be the President that we all hope he will.  Hopefully, he will surprise even the most skeptical of people and this country and its people will return to prosperity and better times.

 

The enormity of the situation continued to impress into the following days.  Nothing made me think and understand how important the US is when I got to work the next day with a message from the founder of my company, an Australian, sent an e-mail to the entire company telling the US staff how proud we should be to be citizens of our country and how we lead by example.  He went on to say that the election was one of the most amazing moments that he has witnessed in his lifetime and he doesn’t even have a true vested interest in our country or the situation.  As I mentioned before, I will always remember the day Obama was elected and will hope that the decisions made today, will help build a better future for us and our children.

 

Obama rules!!!!