Election ‘08

When I moved six years ago from Chicago to Arizona I noticed two things. First, I had not understood what it was going to be like to live in a border state whose population was integrated in different ways than it had been in the Midwest. In the Midwest racial lines seemed more defined or perhaps more ingrained, because I grew up there. In Arizona it seemed obvious that the climate was more natural to the Latinos because they were more used to it. In construction, gardening, or any exterior work we were dependent on their knowledge and stamina. In general, the entire population is more integrated here, including Asians and African-Americans, as well as Latinos. Over the last six years I have noticed that the entire world has become less color conscious, or at least I have.

I had been a Hillary Clinton supporter, but when she did not get the party’s nomination I knew I would have to think about who I was going to vote for. As I investigated McCain, I knew it could never be him. He had left his wife in a state of sickness to marry rich Cindy, a lack of loyalty to a woman who kept the campfires burning and raised the children all the time he was a prisoner of war. He was not in favor of a woman’s right to decide what would happen to her own body and would surely convert the Supreme Court to a conservative majority and overturn Roe vs. Wade if he could. He was too old and had been a Bush lover for the first six years until he saw public opinion finally turn against him and then he distanced himself in the hope of gaining the White House. I sensed that underlying anger in him and his need to control things. My final decision was made the first time I heard McCain and Palin speak together and each of them said they would invade Afghanistan and Iran and they had already stuck their two cents into Russia’s business in Georgia. That is what scared me the most… that they were warmongers. Then Sarah really scared me, winking like a beauty queen, using those common catchphrases. The woman was so for motherhood, yet at the same time she got into airplanes and killed animals with a shotgun! A big disconnect for me.

So I began to listen to Obama, who was a man I did not know much about. Yes, he spoke well and he was young enough and had not had a history of being unduly persuaded by the politics in the Senate. Perhaps less experience was a good thing in terms of not being jaded. I am a woman who has for most of her voting career voted against the person who scared me the most; so I slowly decided that this time it would have to be Obama who would get my vote. Interestingly enough the last few weeks I really began to like this man who was so cool under fire and steady in his vision. I must admit I got swept along by the growing tide rising in his favor and pouring out of every venue of communication. Though this election process went on for longer than I can ever remember, I was both exhausted and exhilarated by it.

Last night I could not leave the television as it followed me from room to room. I was really surprised by the huge lead and turnout of the voters. For the first time in many years I believed the candidate I had picked was the best one and he was going to win. It was such an overwhelming landslide and it was exciting as he doubled the electoral votes all along the way. Talk about mandates: this was more like a quiet revolution, and that is what we need after two terms of the other party taking us on a long and convoluted roller coaster ride of war and debacle. For the first time in a long time I felt my vote had been counted. Obama’s acceptance speech was smart and visionary. He included the people, and made us feel part of the process. He said he would make some mistakes, but he would work on doing his best for all the people. I got the feeling that he did not just want to be the first African-American president, but one who would go down in history, like Lincoln and FDR.

This morning on the View when Sherry got so emotional and told us that for the first time in her life she felt a part of America and could now tell her young son that anything was possible for a man of color…I was proud. I too, cried. I think we have all done a very good thing and I will do whatever part I can to make Barack Obama’s vision for a better America become a reality.