Barack Obama is in the lead to win the presidential election. As you read this, the election is still in progress. The world can change because of his victory. I believe and I am of the school of thought that one man can make a difference.
This is an emotional moment in American politics. Obama represents an American correction. He is our future, our hope and our possibility. Change, indeed. Needless to say, The American Black Man was not represented when our forefathers, Jefferson, Washington and Madison wrote the constitution. Black men and women were not included. Although we talk about equal opportunity and the freedoms by birthright, we were not always included. And now, here we are fully participating in the American mainstream process.
What took you so long, America?
Many older people have waited a long time for this day--having witnessed World Wars, segregation, discrimination, overt racism--expecting that what they believed to have been an impossibility could actually come to fruition. The Civil Rights generation has seen their world come full circle. This is what they marched for. This is the end of the protest. Although the Obama campaign did not outwardly court the civil rights people, they are proud of this moment because without their 40 years of trials and tribulations, we, honestly would not be here.
The King dream is realized.
Young white America has entered a new era. They have perhaps ended America's racism. Their good efforts have risen to the top of the country by judging Obama by the content of his character and not the color of his skin. The barrier dropped. The young hands of technology have won. I hope we have finally said "goodbye" to America's apartheid in this single, long-awaited, historical election.
Obama has rallied America with a single word: CHANGE. He spoke of one America, not a divided one. It resonated into victory. Obama's timing has been exquisite. His campaign has been a model one as he has defied and broken every stereotype and seized his moments. His story is one of belief, determination and persistence. I believe his life and order are divinely guided. He has come for a time such as this. He has changed American politics. He knows; he reflects; he projects; and he has danced the political tango and waltz.
Chicago, the lakefront city, is out of the ordinary. This place has given rise to national black political voices compared to none other from Congressman William Dawson to Harold Washington. The eccentric mix of the South Side with its jazz and blues, liberal progressive Hyde Park, and the independent politics of the likes of Leon Despres and the late Dick Newhouse mixed with the machine politics of Mayor Daley and Emil Jones, on to the renown voices of the pulpit from the Civil Rights Movement to Catholics have rolled out the spotlight on a winner.
This is an election that will be remembered as the one that turned the country around. People are already recalling the day they voted in 2008. Many Americans think this is the first time there has been a real choice. We have seen our communities come together with a quiet strength, force and resolve that has a spiritual tone. The tears of joy flow with the pride and pain of when grandmothers and grandfathers living in the South didn't have the right.
The only other time I witnessed this is when Harold Washington won the mayoral election, making history as the first black mayor of Chicago.
The Chicago Tribune made its own history in its first-time support of a Democratic candidate--our favorite son--as it chose not to support the party it helped to father. McCain's old Republican dirty tricks just didn't work. His hints of racism were slapped down and many of his antics simply backfired. A fresh face is before us.
McCain paid America a great insult with the vice presidential selection of the political bimbo, the Alaskan, Sarah Palin. She just doesn't have the experience to play on the national level. At best, she is a mid-management manager. McCain and his people exhibited poor judgment when they thought any woman would do. Quality matters. Tokens won't do.
It's terrifying to think of Palin in the White House.
The election has been far too long and issues that I would have liked covered did not get in the public debate, but a "job well done," Barack Obama. He has earned it. Michelle Obama has been the quintessential political mate, while still being the perfect mother, wife and friend. David Axelrod, the former Tribune political reporter, has been a wonderful strategist and Valerie Jarrett, the astute friend.
And Oprah lent her powerful voice perfectly.
Congratulations to all of you Chicagoans! You have done us proud as we rise to transform America.