On February 9th I made the decision to support a candidate for President. It was still early in the primary season and he was amongst a field of other highly qualified candidates but I decided that for this Presidential Election I was not going to be watching on the sidelines. I was going to pick a candidate and support him.
On February 9th I decided to support Barack Obama.
A month later I was in Philadelphia with my roommate Adam knocking on doors. Eight months later I was with Adam and LJ walking the streets of Loudon County. Through the past few weeks we have called voters, handed out flyers, and looked at a lot of precent data. I also took one road trip to see the big man in person.
Last night we saw the results of our efforts as Barack Obama was elected to be the next President of the United States.
What makes me proud of of last night isn’t just the historic precedents that have been set or the landslide numbers (which I wrote about DC Metblogs); it’s the feeling that I (amongst many, many others) feel a personal connection with this campaign.
I am not going to write how I think I alone got Obama elected, but I am proud that I can say I was part of the collective that stood up and decided to make a change.
As I watched the results in Northwest Washington DC, I knew it was going to be a great night. Battleground states were slowly going in the Obama column but I kept my eyes on CNN for one state- Virginia. It’s the state I lived in and the state I walked the streets of; it is a true battleground state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic Presidential Candidate since LBJ. Early polling hinted that Virginia would be turning blue but I was still skeptical. I was thrilled to see that Obama had won Virginia. I can now say that I once again live in a blue state. We even won Loudon County- now I feel that all those streets walked were worth it.
Many say that Obama offers hope- hope for change in America, hope that our country will be better under his leadership. What I particuarily enjoyed about Obama’s victory speech last night was that it wasn’t a victory for him- it was a victory for us. The hope he brings isn’t just his leadership- but it’s a realization of the power of what we can do as one nation. His grassroots campaign has been based on the efforts of many, and it makes me so happy to see that in today’s world we can still come together and work towards the greater good.
That’s why it should be a happy day of all us- whether you are blue or red, white or black, we need to look past our differences and look to what we all have in common- the desire to live a better life in one of the greatest countries in the world.
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