Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Historical times in America. The last two presidential elections were hard on me, so I was afraid to let hope burn too brightly in this one. Politics and wily Republican ways aside, I quite honestly wasn't sure if America was ready to elect an African-American president. If you think about it in the historical sense, the sixties were not that long ago. When we moved down here (originally) in the mid-70's, there was still a "colored" church and one street was remembered as "colored row". I've found out recently that a sparsely populated section of the cemetery across the road was the "colored section". There was a "colored" school as well, though that was gone by then. We have generations of people voting for whom that was the norm. That worried me. I guess we'll never know to what extent race played a part here in WV or in the other Southern states, but I'm cynical enough to have strong suspicions. I'm just glad it didn't matter in the long run and I'm proud to be living in these times and sharing them with my little girl.
I thought Obama's acceptance speech was one of the most moving and inspirational I have seen. And we determined that Democrats are better huggers---LOL.
P.S. McCain won WV, but Obama won my county so I am consoled by that:)

4 comments:

Cherie said...

It's a wonderful day, isn't it? I was afraid to be too hopeful, like you, I was devastated in 2000 and 2004. My adopted state, NC, looks like it's gonna keep it's small winning margin for Obama, and even more gratifying, my county went for him 76% to 24% for McCain!

Tracie said...

I felt the same exact way...it makes me so happy to know that our country is moving beyond it's past into a new future where everyone can be equal.

Tracie

Bridgett said...

I was so disappointed West Virginia went to McCain. My county even went to McCain 65 to
35.

Boo!

Obama's speech was phenomenal. I think everybody at my house was in tears.

It's a beautiful day! :)

XOXO

Lisa :-] said...

I know exactly what you mean about no0t wanting to get your hopes up, and then not believing the American people were any where near being able to elect a black man as president. In the end, the combination of Obama's quiet charisma, W's hideous legacy and McCain's erratically weird decisions pushed our first black president to victory. Isn't it glorious?!