How fabulous waking up to a brand new world and weeping tears of joy.
president obama
05 Wednesday Nov 2008
Posted in politics
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casa azahar %d
Isn’t it beautiful? It’s so rare to be able to weep those tears of joy. It’s been an amazing time.
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It’s truly amazing, alejna. And it seems the whole world is celebrating. I got a text message about half an hour ago from my friend Carmen saying “Hoy podemos soñar con un mundo mejor” (Today we can dream of a better world).
It must feel wonderful knowing you helped make it happen.
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That was the first thing I heard on the radio programme which woke me up this morning. It felt like a ray of sunlight 🙂
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I’m finding it really hard to hold it together! Any time I think of Jesse Jackson’s face, tears streaming down it – or am reminded of Martin Luther Kings’ dream – or hear “I know where I’ve been” from Hairspray – or think of the sacrifices that Rosa Parks et al made…
What a privilege to be alive on this historic day.
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And I feel privileged to have voted for the man. His acceptance speech last night was awe-inspiring. People in Seattle were dancing in the streets until the wee hours, even though Obama was pronounced the winner about 8PM. Glorious day.
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I was impressed with the gracious and inspiring concession speech by McCain.
While i don’t agree with his politics, I have always admired McCain as a person. His speech was one of the best I have ever heard by a losing candidate.
A truly historic moment for the US. However, what a lot of people don’t know is that immediately after the end of slavery, there was a brief period when former slaves rose to some of the highest positions of State and Federal leadership…. It is forgotten that for a period, between 1865 and 1871, African Americans were well represented in State legislatures (In South Carolina, 4 of its 5 Congressmen were Black!).
Unfortunately, self-appointed militias comprised of former Confederate soldiers rose up to throw the Republican governments in the former Slave states out of office, by any means possible, including voting them out but also resorting to violence, terrorizing Blacks (and Republican supporters) at the polls and shooing candidates. By 1890, these States were using legislation to disenfranchise Blacks (removing the right to vote or hold office), one-Party rule, and segregation as a means of returning Blacks to subservience.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_era_of_the_United_States#African_American_officeholders
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That was “shooting” not “shooing” candidates…. Lol
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A remarkable day for any number of reasons. I’m mildly optimistic that the world might be a slightly better place today.
Doubt it’ll help my morgage situation any in the short term, though, and I’m really struggling to see how the man can possibly live up to the expectations that he be a cross between Superman, Kris Kringle and Tom Hanks all rolled into one.
It will all mean absolutely nothing (indeed less than nothing, I fear inasmuch that it will have a long term negative effect on world politics) if he can’t deliver.
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Obama has a way of energizing and inspiring people and pulling them into his causes. He knows and we know that he can’t bring unicorns and rainbows, and that any effective change will have to involve work on nearly everyone’s part. I think we can accomplish many of the things we elected him to do as long as we stay energized and inspired.
We got him elected. That’s the first miracle.
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Jim and I both burst into tears at the moment NBC announced the west coast voting for Barack and the electoral vote number went over 270. That was the moment we opened the champagne!
I LOVED all the pictures taken at the Chicago assemblage. Wow. What a vision of love and beauty and peace.
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I’m really thrilled with the result – a real battle of progressive forces against the conservatives. America is the same country today as it was yesterday, but also now it is a different place. We’re breathing again..
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I agree with Anneke that McCain showed rare grace and dignity in defeat. Let’s hope his supporters heed his calls for cooperation with the new administration moving forward.
And I am truly delighted, not just for America, but for ALL the Western Democracies that one of us finally managed to elect someone other than a middle class caucasian. I hope President-Elect Obama can avoid the Messianic Complex which seemed to be the downfall of Tony Blair, who was elected on a similarly euphoric landslide (though not as historically important of course).
I have to say that it genuinely restores my faith in Representative Democracy. 🙂
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In recent months there have been a lot of comments on various CBC news stories about the Canadian and American elections, and a number of other stories (just about any story whether political or not) which truly frighten me.
I find it really disturbing the number of (especially Canadian) posters who seem to be espousing almost Fascist, certainly rabidly anti “liberal” comments.
While I know that there is a certain mindset in the US which labels anything that schmecks of “liberalism” as somehow “evil”, I am astonished a the pervasive attitude that if you are in any way pro-choice, anti-war, “green”, concerned in any way about human rights, concerned about global warming, anti-torture, think that homosexuals have a right to marry…. whatever, you are what is “dragging this country down” and you should pack your bags and move to …. well, anywhere else but here.
What really scares me is the seeming attitude that it won’t be long before “we” (in other words the conservative forces) will get control of the country and “do away” with “you liberals”.
I found it astonishing that there were a lot of posts today on the stories about Obama, basically telling “liberals” in Canada to move to the US now that our “hero” Obama got in.
I don’t understand how, especially in Canada, it has gotten to be an “us or them” choice and why hoping for equality, human rights, a better future for our children and the rest of the children on the planet, not to mention a future for our planet somehow makes one “evil”.
When I grew up in the 60s and 70s, the vast majority of people I knew and came into contact with more or less stood for the same things. We may not have agreed on religion or on necessarily on how to achieve the same goals but there was a general consensus that Canada stood for something good in the world.
It is all rather baffling.
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I’ve never wished to be an American more than ever yesterday. I wanted to vote so badly. Watching the news coverage, I was overwhelmed by the reality that history was taking place before my tearfilled eyes. When Obama walked out to make his speech, my ears were straining to hear every word. It was truly an amazing experience and am still trying to grasp the full extent of it all. A country that was built on slavery has elected a black man as president; what progress, what hope, what a difference people can make!
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I am formulating a letter to the editor of our daily rag which at least does not have the gall to refer to itself as a “newspaper” anywhere on its front page. When I received my evening paper tonight, I was shocked and appalled to see that NOWHERE in the paper was there a report that Obama had been elected president. Egads.
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“Superman, Kris Kringle and Tom Hanks” are all white guys and two of them are apparently fictional. BO is a whole different kettle of pots entirely. I just can’t seem to wipe the smile off my face (az, tell P she owes me a drink). 🙂
Welcome to the next phase of history, folks. I’m glad I made it this far. If he gets past the midterms without too much of the ReDepression showing we might actually get a government that fills in the gaps between the disappearing middle class and the poor that barely live in the richest country in the world. (Might still be)
Anyway, I’m home and well and missing the tapas and Cruzcampo already (although I will have to exercise to lose the 10 lbs or so I gained consuming it all). If I’m incoherent I blame the lack of sleep over the last 20 hours.
Cheers!!
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I freely admit I’m cynical. But I remember another young, ambitious politician with media savvy that appeared to capture the popular zeitgeist.
His name was Tony Blair and he promised us here the UK the world. He barely managed to deliver Belgium. He turned out to be a snake oil salesman of the highest order. His betrayal of the Labour Party and it’s ideals has left me effectively disenfranchised and probably means I won’t bother to vote for the rest of my lifetime, such is my now distrust of politicians of any stripe or calibre.
As for Supes, Old Nick and Tom Hanks all being white, well, I understood this election wasn’t about race. Or so I keep reading from Democrat supporters.
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Oh, btw – good to see you got home safely and it was really nice to share some beers with you the other day. I’ll be in touch in due course.
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zoomer, that sounds like a damn fine reason to buy you a drink. You’re on!
BTW, I am eating my first homemade hummus today. Yum! I can’t recall how the Italian flag thing works… I have the pimientos and goat cheese… don;t I need some sort of greenery? Anyways I combined olive paste, hummus, and pimientos on a pita and it was pretty darn tasty so I’ll stick with this combo until I am enlightened further on the matter. It sort of looks like a German flag…
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Aiiii, you’ve got it all mixed up, Pipocas. The Italian flag one is the baguette with black olive paste, goat cheese, roasted red peppers and fresh basil leaves. The hummous/aubergine roll ups are just kind of BROWN …
Do I have to come over and throw out half your food too!!!?
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Wait, that doesn’t make sense. There’s no black in the Italian flag! And what can I do with hummous if I’m too lazy to roast eggplant?
Keep your hands off my hummous!
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Well the air here in America is filled with both hope and sorrow.
Only time and adversity will determine who Obama is as President. When Bush was elected, nobody knew the trouble that lay ahead and the desperate decisions that would need to be made. They are after all, just men.
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I tend to agree with Blues Shark – Obama’s already shown himself in this campaign to be too willing to compromise on fundamental points of principle. I doubt we’ll see anything very special from him. That doesn’t stop the election result being great news of course, because McCain and Palin would really have been terrible.
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The pole’s black. Come to think of it, some of the polls were black and one of the pols is definitely black. 🙂
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And what about the constitutional amendment in California? A step back there, and one I think few were expecting.
Ah well …
TRiG.:)
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I choose to see Obama’s win as a sign that things *can* change, not necessarily that they *will*. It’s a place to start.
As a Californian, I’m even more disappointed than Trig that Yes on 8 passed. As 8 is an amendment to the state constitution, it makes it that much harder to reverse.
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