Wednesday, November 5, 2008
News Did you think this would ever happen?
Posted by Ken Edelstein on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 2:14 PM
McCain's concession speech wasn't just gracious. He also managed to pivot from the narrow perspective of the moment to generously recognize the magnitude of this election. From AP:
"[Obama's] success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance," McCain said, adding that he "deeply admired" Obama for inspiring the hopes of people "who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence" in electing a president."
Unsurprisingly, Obama's victory speech took things even higher by elevating his "Yes We Can" mantra into a tight expression of the American spirit.
But after blogging all-evening and jumping frenetically from website to website, I finally felt the significance of the moment when I heard the honking begin on Peachtree outside a Midtown condo.
They were short, cheerful beeps — often three in a row to evoke the beat of "Yes We Can.'"
People were looking for the celebration, but it seemed different from any other celebration by a winning side in a presidential campaign. By 1:30 a.m., there was a traffic jam, but none of the honks or yells were let loose in anger — they were expressions of joy. (For more evidence of the same thing, take a look at Thomas Wheatley's marvelous photos from the celebration early this morning in front of Ebenezer Baptist Church. That's one above.)
The drivers and riders came in all colors, but it seemed to me that every honk from an African-American driver had a special significance — a kind of pride and relief that this could happen.
Whatever your political beliefs, this is a special moment for America. It's very occurrence makes a difference – even before Obama takes office. I'd love know what you're thinking as you witness the crossing of the ultimate threshold in American politics.
I am 49 years old. Before I heard Obama speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, I thought a black man might be elected president in my lifetime — but I would have told you it was unlikely. That night four years ago, he made me think it was more likely. But tell, did you think this would ever happen?
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Call me an optimist, but I did think this would happen. Perhaps my point-of-view is tinted by the blue island I inhabit, but it only seems natural that now is the time — given the bitterness of the past eight years and the current economic instability and the long stretch of bad PR abroad — for America to show the world a new face. What I've found most moving about the election results so far (aside from last night's celebrations at Ebeneezer, in Harlem, and in Selma) is this: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/reactions-from-around-the-world/?ref=world
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I’m sure I speak for many fellow African Americans that voted for President Elect Barack Obama. A vote not solely because he is African-American, but because we see in him an extraordinarily charismatic leader who is intelligent, charming and the right person at the right time for this nation. A man who is perhaps the only leader on the political stage who can unite a divided nation that has been painfully polarized in the past two decades by ideology and demagoguery. Barack Obama's grand victory was a victory for us ALL. It was more than a matter of history being made, but of jubilation for millions of Americans; both black and white and all colors in between. For the hundreds of millions in so many other countries, it was a moment of renewed hope that America was once looked upon for. As a African-American whose heart swelled with joy and pride on November 4th, Obama's victory affirms the blood, sweat and service my ancestors shed for a country where for too long they were treated as less than full citizens. Even more so, the fact that so many white Americans put aside any of their own racial prejudices and voted for Obama rekindle my belief in this great nation we call America the Beautiful. All last year, many people — black, brown and white — blurted out that a white-majority America would never elect a black president. That assertion has been proven wrong. More importantly, America's standing in the world shot up overnight. We all recognize that the problems facing the United States and the world are not going to be solved with the swearing-in of an African-American president. But nations periodically need a moral and spiritual boost, especially in moments of deep despondency. I doubt that anyone could have provided that boost more effectively than Barack Obama. With all due respect for Rev Jeremiah Wright, GOD has not damned America, but he has indeed BLESSED AMERICA with President Elect Barack Obama.
I am the child of two immigrants who came here by overcoming numerous hardships and hurdles for the sole purpose of giving their children a better life. The so-called American Dream. But throughout my life, I'm mostly been disgusted and appalled by this nation. By the cruelty, stupidity, selfishness, close-mindedness and hypocrisy of its citizens. I was finally planning a move to almost any other country, even back to the island my parents escaped. I believed America was disgracing itself in the eyes of the world and making this planet worse off for its existence. When the possibility of an Obama presidency became more than an idea, I was excited merely for the chance to have an intelligent, logical and caring leader who would fight for people instead of power. I wished everyone would stop focusing on his race. I'm also of mixed race and I generally believe the only way to move past racism is to stop harping on it. Tuesday night, I was proven wrong on all counts. Until the moment those words, President-elect Barack Obama, scrolled across the screen, I had no idea what this man really meant for America and the world. I thought he was a symbol of hope and change, certainly. But his victory is more than one man, more than one symbol, just more. The election of a non-white American president means that my son will grow up in a different world. It means that I will walk down every street a changed American and have changed Americans looking at me through eyes that see differently. Yes, mentally I thought one day there might be a man of color to hold this country's highest office. But I never imagined that this nation could so thoroughly change, could admit its wrongs of the past by moving into the future. I did not think that I would live to see a land so altered that I could be proud to say I am an American. That I could come to see my parents made the right choice. Detractors may say what they will. He is after all a man who has made and will make many mistakes. But what those detractors will never fully understand is this is not about the man, it's about a movement. Away from ignorance and idiocy, toward equality and setting the example for a world in peril. No, I never thought America would embody that movement again. And I've never been so thankful to have been wrong.
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