(no subject)
As I listened to the news today at work, a strange thing happened. Every time the words "President-Elect Obama" were spoken, I found myself tearing up and a swelling of emotion building inside me. I managed to suppress these feelings so I didn't have an episode at work, but they were very powerful.
Until today, I don't think the enormity of what happened really hit me. We celebrated last night and enjoyed the moment but I didn't stop to contemplate it all. Barack Obama is president. All the doubt, all the fear, all the anxiety has passed away, and America has made a pivotal choice.
I cannot speak to what this moment represents to blacks around the country, beyond sharing their enthusiasm and joy. What I can speak to is the feeling of unbridled hope and optimism for the future. We have grown so used to the weight of the Bush administration that anything else seems alien. But in a few short months, we will finally close the book on that hideous chapter of our history and begin a new page that is completely blank. No one knows what it will contain; it is utterly unprecedented and so many things are possible. This choice represents a change not just in politics but in individual minds, people who may have once sided with Bush or voted out of bigoted or ignorant reasons, or had simply remained apathetic towards politics. Barack will bring many changes to this country, but that one is the most important. He has proven Americans can change their minds and take a chance on a new direction. The world will applaud us. Already, they are applauding us. The end of Rovian politics is upon us, the end of fear-mongering, the end of Machiavellian manipulation, the end of lies as an institutional policy, the end of the idea of America as empire, the end of us-versus-them divisiveness. This is beginning of the reign of reason.
I have felt little reason to be proud of my country in the last decade, but one has arrived at last. Obama has all the makings of a great man, stepping to the forefront at the right moment in history. Because of his example, we can see echoes of what we once were, or what we should be, dancing on the walls like flickers of shadow. America surrendered its reason when we were attacked seven years ago, handing it over to a cabal of vicious, cold-hearted opportunistic men. Now we have taken it back. And may we never give it away so freely again, no matter how scared we may be.
Today is a glad day indeed.
Until today, I don't think the enormity of what happened really hit me. We celebrated last night and enjoyed the moment but I didn't stop to contemplate it all. Barack Obama is president. All the doubt, all the fear, all the anxiety has passed away, and America has made a pivotal choice.
I cannot speak to what this moment represents to blacks around the country, beyond sharing their enthusiasm and joy. What I can speak to is the feeling of unbridled hope and optimism for the future. We have grown so used to the weight of the Bush administration that anything else seems alien. But in a few short months, we will finally close the book on that hideous chapter of our history and begin a new page that is completely blank. No one knows what it will contain; it is utterly unprecedented and so many things are possible. This choice represents a change not just in politics but in individual minds, people who may have once sided with Bush or voted out of bigoted or ignorant reasons, or had simply remained apathetic towards politics. Barack will bring many changes to this country, but that one is the most important. He has proven Americans can change their minds and take a chance on a new direction. The world will applaud us. Already, they are applauding us. The end of Rovian politics is upon us, the end of fear-mongering, the end of Machiavellian manipulation, the end of lies as an institutional policy, the end of the idea of America as empire, the end of us-versus-them divisiveness. This is beginning of the reign of reason.
I have felt little reason to be proud of my country in the last decade, but one has arrived at last. Obama has all the makings of a great man, stepping to the forefront at the right moment in history. Because of his example, we can see echoes of what we once were, or what we should be, dancing on the walls like flickers of shadow. America surrendered its reason when we were attacked seven years ago, handing it over to a cabal of vicious, cold-hearted opportunistic men. Now we have taken it back. And may we never give it away so freely again, no matter how scared we may be.
Today is a glad day indeed.