Election Day
So we have a new president. How about that?
Honestly, I can't even say how happy that makes me.
Four years ago, when many of us woke up on the morning after Election Day, we hoped we were waking from a nightmare in which an ineffectual, dangerously aggressive man had become our leader for the second time in a row. We woke with heavy hearts, knowing we were in for worse that time around. We woke knowing that all the protests we organized, all the people we talked to, all the knowledge we had gathered, all the opposition we had mustered, was for nothing.
Now, on the eve of Election Day, I can go to bed with...hope.
It's a strange thing, hope. It's an elusive, feathered thing that I know is idealistic, gratuitous, and useless without action. I know I can't depend on it, that it won't keep me alive or make our society better, just on its own. But that same emotion also brings tears to my eyes, and inspires me, and makes me so glad that I live in America to see a new age begin. It makes me wonder, with a strange lightness in my heart, after all this country has been through, what next?
It really kicked in when I was standing beside my friend Deva, a staunch Obama supporter who worked her ass off for the campaign, at Pearl Nightclub, where the Democratic Party of Hawaii was gathered to watch the election results. The electoral vote hit 284, and the place went wild. Everyone started screaming. Senators, kids, old veterans, professionals, housewives... all screaming and crying and yelling "Yes, we did! Yes, we did!" Trying not to cry, I turned to Deva and said, "Holy shit, we won!" and hugged her. I took it personally, because this candidate has made it personal. I've pretended to be an impartial member of the media all this time, but now, with most of Hawaii in strong support of our "local boy," I'm not even going to bother pretending that I didn't take a side.
Sure, it's Obama, a black man, that won. But we all won, really. Highest voter turnout in 90 FUCKING YEARS. People mobilized. We won a chance to change for the better. The people in Kenya that prayed for Obama's victory. The students who donated $25 each online. The people in the Middle East that publicly endorsed him. The gay people who will finally be able to see the legalization of gay marriage in their lifetime. The people who have fought for universal health care. I can't even name all the groups. And with an overwhelming majority of Democrats in the house, I really believe that in the next four years, America will change. And the world will change because of it.
Look at us. We finally did something right. Maybe there is a God.
Personally, I can say, for once in my life, that I'm proud to call someone "my president." That man is Barack Obama.
Honestly, I can't even say how happy that makes me.
Four years ago, when many of us woke up on the morning after Election Day, we hoped we were waking from a nightmare in which an ineffectual, dangerously aggressive man had become our leader for the second time in a row. We woke with heavy hearts, knowing we were in for worse that time around. We woke knowing that all the protests we organized, all the people we talked to, all the knowledge we had gathered, all the opposition we had mustered, was for nothing.
Now, on the eve of Election Day, I can go to bed with...hope.
It's a strange thing, hope. It's an elusive, feathered thing that I know is idealistic, gratuitous, and useless without action. I know I can't depend on it, that it won't keep me alive or make our society better, just on its own. But that same emotion also brings tears to my eyes, and inspires me, and makes me so glad that I live in America to see a new age begin. It makes me wonder, with a strange lightness in my heart, after all this country has been through, what next?
It really kicked in when I was standing beside my friend Deva, a staunch Obama supporter who worked her ass off for the campaign, at Pearl Nightclub, where the Democratic Party of Hawaii was gathered to watch the election results. The electoral vote hit 284, and the place went wild. Everyone started screaming. Senators, kids, old veterans, professionals, housewives... all screaming and crying and yelling "Yes, we did! Yes, we did!" Trying not to cry, I turned to Deva and said, "Holy shit, we won!" and hugged her. I took it personally, because this candidate has made it personal. I've pretended to be an impartial member of the media all this time, but now, with most of Hawaii in strong support of our "local boy," I'm not even going to bother pretending that I didn't take a side.
Sure, it's Obama, a black man, that won. But we all won, really. Highest voter turnout in 90 FUCKING YEARS. People mobilized. We won a chance to change for the better. The people in Kenya that prayed for Obama's victory. The students who donated $25 each online. The people in the Middle East that publicly endorsed him. The gay people who will finally be able to see the legalization of gay marriage in their lifetime. The people who have fought for universal health care. I can't even name all the groups. And with an overwhelming majority of Democrats in the house, I really believe that in the next four years, America will change. And the world will change because of it.
Look at us. We finally did something right. Maybe there is a God.
Personally, I can say, for once in my life, that I'm proud to call someone "my president." That man is Barack Obama.