Even though November 4th 2008 is going to be the day in the history books, July 27th 2004 will always hold more weight in my mind when i think of this election. We had just endured the first 4 years of Bush, Iraq was turning into the nightmare that we all worried it would become and the wound from 9/11 was still raw. I was one of the many who ran with John Kerry on the 'anyone but Bush' platform, and i was never more aware of this de facto sentiment when on that day - July 27 2004, i watched Barack Obama give the DNC keynote speech. While it was impossible for anyone to be swayed by Kerry's droning rhetoric, Obama moved me so much that i thought to myself: Fuck Kerry - this guy should be running for president, this is the type of man America needs right now. I called my girlfriend at the time into the room and made her watch it - i needed to validate the idea that I had indeed perceived something real, something heartfelt and true - coming from a politician. She was moved, as were my parents a few days later, and over the next several weeks, i would tell more and more people.
That November, while Kerry lost the presidency and we were all shocked that 51% of this nation could re-elect W, Barack Obama won his Senate race in a landslide. That christmas, my parents gave me his autobiography, Dreams from my Father and after reading it i swooned at the idea of a man like this as president - but was also convinced that this was a reality that would never, ever happen.
During the democratic primary, i felt trapped between friends i knew who were too cynical to care and others who felt that a good democrat should go for Hillary Clinton. It was a personal affirmation for me, knowing that before i was a democrat or a republican, liberal or conservative, i was a progressive - and the progressive candidate was Barack Obama. Each month that primary dragged on, i felt more sure that he wasn't going to win, that they would run a 3 party election before the old guard Clintonista camp allowed him to take the nomination. But it seems as if the bright, new campaign for Change was resonating too loudly against the forces of old. Up next, John McCain and Sarah Palin. Surely lies, deceit and manipulation would win again.
But he won. Yes We Did. Mr. President Barack Obama. This campaign of change will now need to evolve into administration of progress. An entire generation of people were doomed to grow under a dark shadow in the 'new post 9/11 world', maybe now we've given them some light instead, and a hope that better things are coming tomorrow.
