Whether your candidate won or not yesterday, today is a day to think about the historical implications of what has taken place and why that makes our country a great place. Tomorrow I’ll start talking about some changes that I’d like to see, but today is a day to celebrate.
1. Our country is only 232 years old. Ours is one of the few and one of the first countries to be founded on the Judeo-Christian principle that all men are created equal. We haven’t always lived up to that but think about this: name another non-African nation to choose a black man as their leader. European nations are thousands of years old and most if not all of them have never elected or selected a minority as their leader. In most places, power is passed down from one generation to the next. Lineage and loyalty have had more to do with leadership selection than character and competency. That was often true in America has well, but Sen. Obama’s victory resonates with lots of folks.
For every kid growing up without a father…you can be President.
For every single mother struggling to make ends meet while going to school…your son can be President.
For every grandparent chipping in to help raise their grandchildren…they could be President.
In an age where the minority stereotype is one of broken homes and illegitimacy, remember what it felt like to see a black family ascend to the highest politcal office in the world. You can say a lot of things about Barack Obama, but you cannot say that he is not a committed husband and father. Everyone can celebrate that.
Most people will look at this election as simply shattering the ceiling for African-Americans, but I think it shatters the ceiling for the common man. Barack Obama wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, worked his way through law school, married his wife before they had kids, and woke up this morning as the President elect of the United States. It means Drake has a shot. It means Charis and Milena have a shot. It means we’ve all got a shot. Isn’t that what America is all about?
2. I felt for Sen. McCain like I did for Bob Dole in 1996. Both men are heroes in their own right and both men won their parties nomination 8 years too late. They had a lot of things going against them and both ran subpar campaigns. I don’t see that McCain lost the election as much as Obama won it. Which brings me to…
3. Hopefully, someone in the Obama campaign started writing a book this morning on the best Presidential campaign ever run. This guy had no shot a year ago because everyone from East to West saw it as Hillary Clinton’s to lose. Ironic that the man criticized for his past as a community organizer won because of his campaign’s ability to organize communities. This was a grass roots effort from the start and hats off to them. I’m not a Howard Dean fan, but the way Obama won this election fits the new 50 state playbook of the Democratic party. Hopefully, Republicans will quit whining about the media’s coverage of Obama and initiate some change I can believe in. Buying this book would be a great place to start.
4. Finally, I can only hope now that President-elect Obama’s first meeting with the Congressional leadership goes something like this,”You guys are a bunch of morons. I’m running the show here. I’m in charge. You guys’ approval rating is worse than the Presidents’ so don’t think for one minute you’re gonna boss me around. There are 62,000,000 reasons you’re gonna do exactly what I say. Now, where do we begin.”
Well, that might be one American dream that doesn’t come true.