It's one time I will happily say (and will write the post on November 5 if it plays out) I was wrong about an issue. I've always told friends that I believed the United States was too obstinately racist to ever put in my lifetime an African-American man in the Oval Office. I've always believed for that reason the first African-American president would be a woman rather than an African-American man.
Monica Roberts, October 1, 2008
Okay, I'll say it. I was wrong. And I'm saying it with a wide as Texas smile on my face.
What my people have been hoping, dreaming and praying for to happen for almost 150 years has finally come true. We have an African-American president.President Elect Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.
Come January 20 the White House will have occupants who share the same heritage as the people who built it.
He didn't just squeak by. It was an electoral college blowout. He garnered 61 million votes, the most in US history. The victory was especially sweet because he also exorcised the ghosts of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004.
In one fell swoop the election of President elect Obama (God, I love the sound of that) has begun the repair the damage to our country's international good name severely damaged by the Bush misadministration.
It's a history making election on a lot of levels, and one which I and a lot of people around the world will be celebrating for a while. I cried when he hit the magic 270 mark at 11 PM EDT and thought about how my late grandmother would have loved to have seen this.We African-Americans were dancing in the streets last night. We were joined by our fellow Americans and people around the world. We're standing a little taller and smiling a lot wider this morning.
It's a new morning on America. For the first time many of us have a reason to be proud of our country. I'm loving the fact that for the first time in a while I have a president I can be proud of and look up to. I'm happy that on my niece's ninth birthday she'll get to witness the inauguration of our nation's first African-American president.
And so will I.
