Wordful Wednesday: YES WE CAN

by Hopeful Spirit on Tuesday, November 4, 2008

What must it feel like?”

As President-Elect Barack Obama wrapped up his vic­tory speech a lit­tle while ago, NBC News Anchor Brian Williams asked that ques­tion as images of a sea of cel­e­brat­ing sup­port­ers flashed on the screen just before Vice President-Elect Joe Biden, and the Obama and Biden fam­i­lies joined the 44th Pres­i­dent of the United States on stage.

Indeed. What must it feel like to be Barack Obama tonight?

Tom Brokaw observed, “I don’t think we’ve fully caught up to what hap­pened here tonight… I don’t think that we fully under­stand how sweep­ing [the change] is going to be.”  As the months and years of his Pres­i­dency unfold, we will get a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the pro­found accom­plish­ments that have been achieved tonight.

A new dawn has come to Amer­ica.” President-Elect Barack Obama

When, just barely after 8:00 p.m. and the clo­sure of the polls here in Cal­i­for­nia, NBC announced that Obama had won, I looked up at the tele­vi­sion screen and choked back an invol­un­tary sob. As I sat here with tears stream­ing down my face, I was sur­prised by my own reflex­ive, vis­ceral response. I cast my vote for and hoped that Obama would win, but actu­ally see­ing the head­line on the tele­vi­sion screen, I was imme­di­ately filled with a sur­pris­ing mix­ture of joy, relief, excite­ment, and … awe.  I stand in awe of this moment in his­tory, as mean­ing­ful and unfor­get­table as so many other momen­tous occa­sions I have witnessed.

Yes we can. We can get this coun­try back on the right path.  We can restore the Amer­i­can dream.  We can unite in cel­e­bra­tion of our diver­sity.  We can work together to achieve a com­mon goal.

Watch­ing the images of Amer­i­cans cel­e­brat­ing in the streets of New York, San Fran­cisco, and other cities, and Grant Park in Chicago, I real­ized that the one word that best describes how Amer­i­cans feel tonight is one of my all-time favorites:  Hope­ful.

As for our next Pres­i­dent, tonight was his “ren­de­vous with des­tiny,” accord­ing to his­to­rian Doris Kearns Good­win.  He knows that he has secured his place in America’s his­tory and is a trans­for­ma­tive fig­ure in this country’s story.  I plan to keep him, his staff and their fam­i­lies in my prayers on a daily basis, and urge all of my read­ers to do the same.

But I can’t help but won­der as I con­sider the images of him cel­e­brat­ing with his fam­ily and con­sider his inspi­ra­tional vic­tory speech: “What must it feel like?”


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{ 21 comments }

1 Tiaras & Tantrums November 4, 2008 at 11:05 pm

To be an American on this historic day is wonderful . . . history has been made this evening . . .

2 angie November 5, 2008 at 12:47 am

I don’t think I could imagine a tenth of his emotions. :)

angie´s latest blog post: Wordful Wednesday-Lifeguards

3 Skip Hire November 5, 2008 at 4:22 am

Great Article.Thanks for sharing.Keep posting like this wonderful post.

4 traductor November 5, 2008 at 7:16 am

If really history has been done yesterday, I feel very happy. :razz:

5 Robin @ Heart of Wisdom November 5, 2008 at 11:06 am

Great post. Thank you

I’m commenting from Google Reader. I added Better GReader to Firefox and can now comment more instead of jut flying through your blog. Thanks for the video.

I haven’t posted since the results are in. I’m waiting for my emotions to settle.

6 susieshomemade November 5, 2008 at 11:17 am

I can’t imagine what he is feeling. I would be scared out of my mind but at the same time, excited at the chance of change.

susieshomemade´s latest blog post: Wordful Wednesday

7 Psychic November 6, 2008 at 3:54 am

Though I’m not an American, I share your joyous celebration as the new Obama era of democracy awaits the country. I congratulate not Obama but all Americans who proved their best stand as a democratic country.
Viva La America!

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8 yinyang November 7, 2008 at 11:35 pm

That’s a good question. I know how I would feel – excited for what’s ahead, worried about messing up, frightened by all the challenges I promised to fix, eager to explore the White House, and a little paranoid of anything happening to me or my family (because if I had that much Secret Service protection, I would be freaked out to say the least).

Oh, to be a fly on the wall… and, hey, we kind of can be! Here’s Barack Obama’s Flickr account, with a behind-the-scenes look at family and friends on Election Night. He seems calm, but maybe his feelings are shifting now that it’s really starting to set in.

I don’t pray, but I will definitely be keeping them all in my thoughts.

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9 Jocuri de gatit November 11, 2008 at 2:47 am

obama is the best :mrgreen:

10 Lina November 11, 2008 at 9:33 am

It seems that this Presidency will bring along changes for the US and for the whole world… Hopefully, these will be changes to better life…

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11 Dog Bones November 11, 2008 at 2:21 pm

I am so excited to think we are on the edge of turning this whole economy around! He is such a great speaker and his victory speech got me all emotional. I hope he does what he says he will do.

12 Cecily R November 11, 2008 at 8:57 pm

I LOVED his acceptance speech. It seriously impressed me.

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13 Chicago Injury Lawyer November 12, 2008 at 9:57 am

I was at Grant Park when he was speaking. It was great. People all around me were in tears of joy and had the look of hope.

14 videos gratis November 13, 2008 at 7:14 am

We will pray together, I am very happy for his victory.

15 deden luo November 15, 2008 at 4:57 am

He makes me proud. He lived in jakarta. The place where i was born and live now. But the most i like him is so secure with him self. very confidence person

16 Koe Whitton-Williams November 15, 2008 at 9:46 am

You are so right. . . first there were tears of joy in my eyes. . . and then there was the realization that there is so much work we need to do. I know we can do it.

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17 Roselyn, The Goji Girl November 15, 2008 at 5:18 pm

America–and the whole world–are both full of hope that the new President of the United States, Barack Obama, will be the ‘new dawn’ that will unfold into a fruitful and joyful day. Congratulations, President Obama, may you lead America towards the right direction. The whole world will be praying for your success.

18 deden November 17, 2008 at 7:46 am

Good Job Obama. I hope He and his team could overcome financial crisis in USA.

19 Kevin November 20, 2008 at 5:37 am

he made a history that night, i hope he’ll do a great job for America…

20 David - Chicago Internet Marketing November 23, 2008 at 6:07 pm

It was an interesting day to be in Chicago for sure. :mrgreen:

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21 party designer December 2, 2008 at 8:40 am

Its amazing how in one day the world became America’s best friend, cant say i think it’ll last

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