We Are Taking Back Our Country

OBAMA!

That was the headline on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, in newspapers across America.

Just before the Democratic National Convention in 2004, my sister Judy told me that Barack Obama was going to give the keynote speech. I said, “who the hell is Barack Obama?” or something like that. Didn’t you, when you first heard his name? I thought that his speech at the convention was very good. He is an excellent speaker.

Fast forward to the Democratic debates earlier this year. Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Chris Dodd and John Edwards were on the same stage. I liked what Dennis Kucinich had to say.  Congressman Kucinich was the only one who had the guts to present a resolution in Congress to impeach  Bush and Cheney. More congressmen should have supported him. I thought Joe Biden was very good in the debates too.

Then it was just Hillary and Barack. I thought that Barack was a better speaker, but I liked Hillary’s healthcare plan better. I chose to support Barack, although I would have voted for Hillary if she had been nominated. I didn’t like the fact that we would have gone from four years of George H. W. Bush to eight good years of Bill Clinton to eight disastrous years of George W. Bush to at least another four years of Hillary Clinton. Why should two families have all the fun?

There is no way I would have voted for McCain under any circumstances. I think he and Sarah Palin ran an ugly, dirty little campaign. He kept pestering Obama about not admitting that the “surge” was working. I have never heard McCain admit that the war was a shameful waste, didn’t need to be fought and was based on lies.

Barack was an easy choice. I liked what he had to say and he inspired people. I kept hearing about his speech against the Iraq war. I looked it up and read it. I thought it was an extraordinary speech. He hit the nail on the head. Take five minutes and read it or watch it from the link above. It’s too bad he wasn’t a United States Senator at the time. More people might have paid attention.

I was born into a world where African-Americans in America, especially the southern states, were denied the right to vote. It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that something was finally done about it. I am so glad that we have made so much progress since then. We are not a color blind country yet, but we have come a long way. This election testifies to that.

It was amazing to see all of the huge celebrations going on in the United States and around the world on election night. I especially liked the celebration outside of the White House gates. I saw Jesse Jackson and Oprah crying tears of joy in Chicago.

Let the cynical Republicans go read their Wall Street Journals. I wish Barack and Joe Biden  the best.

We are taking back our country. January 20, 2009 can’t get here fast enough for me.

Your comments are welcome.