Wed
Nov 5 2008
07:06 am
Barak Obama, president-elect
By: JPROF

Congratulations, Barak Obama.

President-elect.

Truly remarkable. Truly.

And congratulations to Senator John McCain for your unquestioned patriotism and courage and your service to your country.

Those of us who grew up seeing "Whites Only" and "Colored" signs over restrooms and water fountains can simply shake our heads in wonder.

And those of us who have considered the last seven years a political nightmare can now see a glimmer of dawn.

Congratulations, America.

The Writing Wright

Topics:
MDB's picture

I was listening to XM

Submitted by MDB on Wed, 2008/11/05 - 8:59am.

I was listening to XM Radio's AmericaLeft (formerly AirAmerica) morning show earlier.

They had an older African American caller. He quoted Doctor King, saying "we will get to the promised land", and got choked up.

The host said "we got to the promised land".

I don't know if we're there yet, but we're a helluva lot closer than we were twenty four hours ago.

Carole Borges's picture

Such a sweet night

Submitted by Carole Borges on Wed, 2008/11/05 - 10:03am.

I wept salty tears as I thought back over the years to the many sacrifices made by so many to bring this to fruition, to the work done by both blacks and whites to help eliminate our nation's ignorance. I thought of my own marches during the Civil Rights Era in Washington and in Chicago, even when to march risked terrible consequences. I thought back to Dr. King and his eloquence and the agony of hearing the words, "They shot Dr. King."

Tonight I saw Jesse Jackson biting his lip with tears streaming down his face, and I saw the light in the young people's eyes as they realized it was a new day. I pictured Michelle and the kids living in the White House, the promised puppy scampering from room to room.

Then I thought how never again can anything any ignorant racist says have the same impact because today my county, my beautiful America chose to elect a president based on his beliefs rather than the color of his skin. This was an amazing act of trust and an act accompanied by great joy. It will take a while to sink in. Over the last few weeks a black Republican friend of mine kept saying cynically," Do you really think this country is ready to elect a black man?" Well today I can tell him. Today I can affirm what he was afraid to dream.


Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we did.

sugarfatpie's picture

Amen to that!!

Submitted by sugarfatpie on Wed, 2008/11/05 - 1:59pm.

Then I thought how never again can anything any ignorant racist says have the same impact because today my county, my beautiful America chose to elect a president based on his beliefs rather than the color of his skin.

Here's to all the jerks on both left and right (including the one that occasionally takes over my brain) who said this couldn't happen!

It really does feel like a new day.
Election day and the day after never felt so good!!

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher)

"X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

Nobody's picture

Now can we quit feeling guilty?

Submitted by Nobody (not verified) on Wed, 2008/11/05 - 5:16pm.

Now that a person of color has been elected will we be allowed or even can we stop feeling guilty for all of the horrible things we have done?

Bbeanster's picture

Now that a person of color

Submitted by Bbeanster on Wed, 2008/11/05 - 5:35pm.
Now that a person of color has been elected will we be allowed or even can we stop feeling guilty for all of the horrible things we have done?

Nope. Not yet.

Depends on the definition of horrible. The people who murdered Emmitt Till and the four little choir girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church can't stop feeling guilty until the the gates of hell hits them in the ass on the way in -- and neither can those who refused to prosecute them for 40 years nor those who looked the other way. And maybe throw in the perps of those other 3,500 lynchings across the South, and all their enablers, too, which includes a whole big bunch of people.

MDB's picture

Is this too hopeful?

Submitted by MDB on Wed, 2008/11/05 - 5:42pm.

We haven't reached the end of the healing for our country's ugly racial past, but perhaps, just perhaps, we have reached beginning of the end.

Squareroot's picture

Geez guys, this is getting

Submitted by Squareroot (not verified) on Thu, 2008/11/06 - 5:30am.

Geez guys, this is getting so old. Sure there has been a change and an african-american (in every sense of the term) has been elected to the presidency.

Is it time to care that a native american indian is president? Some how we have forgiven (or forgotten) ourselves for the tragedies suffered by them.

Is it time to care that a woman is president? Some how women are overlooked until everyone else is taken care of. Typical.

How are the Katrina survivors doing? Does anybody care any more? How are they doing down in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast? Did you know they are thinking of bringing in a ship to hold the refugees?

How soon we forget.

sugarfatpie's picture

Celebrating one advance doesn't mean ignoring the road ahead

Submitted by sugarfatpie on Thu, 2008/11/06 - 10:26am.

No one has forgotten anything.
Its been a long hard slog and dammit, we're going to celebrate!
I personally am going to bask in this glory for at least 48 hours.
Fortunately Barack is hard at work making change happen.
I'll have my eye on two things: health care and global warming.

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher)

"X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

MDB's picture

We're happy now...

Submitted by MDB on Thu, 2008/11/06 - 10:51am.

...because so many of us wanted this moment so badly.

We've spent eight years dealing with a President we view as having been a catastrophe for the nation. Not only that, we've selected as his replacement a man many of us feel isn't just going to be the next President, we think he has the potential to be one of the great Presidents. Maybe not at the Washington/Lincoln/Jefferson level, but a lot of Obama supporters really think he's gonna do a damn good job.

And we know its not going to be perfect. America has a lot of problems now, the top ones being two ongoing wars and a severe economic crisis. Obama isn't getting a country in the best of shape.

Plus, despite the incredibly annoying "Obamessiah" line from the right, we fully realize he's human and fallible, and that he's a politician. We know he'll make mistakes, and we know he'll have to make some compromises that we won't be thrilled with.

But yeah, we're happy now. We just won, and not only that, we won big. We're basking in the afterglow now. Reality will settle back in after a few weeks, but right now, we're just thrilled.

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