Barack Obama President of the United States of America

My soul is uplifted

I am overcome with joy

My heart beats a mile a minute & I feel a sense of triumph

Last night when Barack Obama was announced as the President of the United States of America, for a moment I sat there in sort of a surreal state. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe the words I had just heard, it was just that at that moment there were so many emotions spiraling through my body that I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak or even blink my eyes. I just sat there…dreamy and speechless.

For as long as I can remember African Americans have said “One day there will be a black president”.  As a child growing up I heard adults say it and as I grew older I became a “one day” believer. I believed that one day; hopefully in my lifetime, we would have a black president. I would like to say I knew it would happen, but that would not be completely true. I believed that it would happen, but I never fully gave in to the thought of knowing that it would happen. As time passed many of those who dreamed of that “one day” began to give up hope. Our ancestors had prayed for it, our parents had dreamed of it and we as the new generation had spoke of it…but it was still just “one day”. With hope in their hearts and pleading eyes, we held on to that dream that seemed to be forever coming.

November 4, 2008 Barack Obama became our One Day.

The people of the United States of America desired change. We refused to continue on with the way things were. We knew there had to be a better way, a way that didn’t overlook the little people, a way that considered us all, a way that wanted to help those who needed help and make us all feel that it was “our government.” For too many years to count, many people have felt that they were overlooked. They felt underpaid and overtaxed. Throughout those years of frustration the little people felt overlooked. These Americans felt that there was no government looking out for them. They were only pawns in a jacked up world of money and power and they had neither.

When Barack Obama was nominated for the Democratic Presidential Candidate some were skeptical. Many of the same people who had belief in their hearts that this country could succeed with a non white president became critics and skeptics. Now that the dream was being fulfilled before their eyes, they didn’t know how to accept it. Sometimes when something is only a vision for so long, when it becomes reality the acceptance is fueled with hesitation and fear.

November 4, 2008 is a historic day. I am ecstatic about playing a part in electing our new President. Not just electing a black president, because he is much more than that. He is the change we believed in. He gave us hope when all seemed lost. When things seemed so tragic and dark for the little people Barack Obama came along and said that he wanted to make things right. For that I applaud him as not The Black President but as The President of the United States of America.

Congratulations Barack Obama!

“It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today. “

-Barack Obama