Many thanks to the American voters, for creating a historical event in American politics, by electing its first black American president, Sen. Barack Obama. He was elected by the content of his character, and not the color of his skin. In spite of the nay-sayers, skeptics, and the so-called “undecided” voters, who mostly didn’t vote anyway, it happened.
The stereotypes of racism and its negatives were cast aside. Voters listened to his oratory, viewed his presence and temperament, and were convinced that this was the person they’d vote for, as opposed to that caricature opponent of his. All black Americans should be proud of this moment, for it was a long time in coming.
Once Sen. Obama settles into his new job as president, there will be those Americans expecting a quick fix to some of the problems that this country faces. But it won’t happen, given the nature of politics in Washington. Fixing the many problems this country has will take time, intelligent ideas, and application. Hopefully, our new president will be able to forge a majority consensus among both political parties to solve our nation’s problems. In view of what we’ve seen and experienced from Sen. Obama thus far, he’s capable of the task.
And finally, to the local resident who once referred to Sen. Obama as “that goofball” in one of his rambling letters to the editor, the “goofball” is now the president of the United States of America.
This article appears in Nov 20-27, 2008.