I would first like to say congratulations to Barack Obama and his family, Joe Biden and his family and a HUGE well-done to the Obama campaign organizers, staff and volunteers for running what will go down as being the best presidential campaign in U.S. history! November 4th, 2008 will forever be a historic date in U.S. History, when a black man was elected as the President of the United States of America.
When things started to heat up in race to be President of the United States, I did my best to keep my views and opinions away from this blog and trust me, it wasn’t always easy.
I wasn’t sure that Barack would win this election, with the huge obstacle of race to overcome and although people say and claimed race shouldn’t be an issue in this campaign, anyone in their right mind had to know it would be. But even with that age-old hurdle to overcome, I am very happy to see that a majority of American voters were able to look passed the feable claims of Barack’s opponents, John McCain and Sarah Palin and vote for the candidate that they thought would be the most progressive and positive in leading America towards better times. And I know that John McCain doesn’t have many years left of service in the U.S. Senate, but in his remaining years he will have the opportunity of “reaching across the isle” and working with Barack Obama in making America better for all of its people.
As a black man, I am extremely proud of Barack Obama and what he has achieved. It is a landmark achievement, but it is only the beginning of his journey. And although many have made statements like “rascism is over”, I simply ask you to review some of polls that stated 20% to 30% of Americans stated that they could not vote for a black man regarldless of where he stands on the issues. Unless that percentage of the population has magically vanished, rasicm will still be an issue in America, although my greatest hope is that black people around the world can now truly see that anything is possible. It’s not going to be easy, there are going to great obstacles, opponents and naysayers, but if you persevere with respect, dignity and knowledge, what you want to achieve is possible. This whole issue really hit home for me when speaking with the older generation about what they went through in the 1960’s before I was born and how they thought it would never be possible for America to elect a black man as President. As black parents, we constantly tell our kids how much harder they have to work, how they can be president some day and thanks to Barack Obama, black children now have a visible, tangible example that they can see and hear to verify what their parents have been telling them for years.
I with Barack Obama & Joe Biden all the best in their Presidency and although they are taking office at a very difficult time, I hope they will be able to stay true to their beliefs and not let the political machine run them over and compromise their values.
Like Barack Obama said, he needs all of our help to make America a better place. So no matter your party, I hope we can all assist him in making America a better place for everyone.