I like to think that I was one of the first people in the world to utter out loud, and in public, the words “Obama ’08.” It was November 2, 2004, at about 9 in the evening. I was in the Oakland airport, having just arrived home from Colorado, where I’d been an election day poll monitor. When I boarded the plane in Denver in the early evening, John Kerry exit polls were calling Ohio for Kerry, and given what I’d been seeing all day, I had no doubt that he’d swept Colorado.
By the time the plane landed in Oakland, everything had changed. My first inkling of bad news was the groups of huddled, shell-shocked passengers in the airport, some of them crying. (This was Northern California, after all.) I ran through the terminal, keeping my eyes firmly averted from the television monitors until I reached the baggage claim, where I found my husband waiting for me, his ashen face telling me what I already knew. Before he could say a word, I raised my fist in the air and shouted, “Obama, ‘08.” Then I burst into tears.
I was fired up, but I had nowhere to go.
Flash forward a little more than three years, and I’m busy saying “I told you so” to anyone who’ll listen. When I first cried “Obama ‘08” the words they were an expression of my desperation. The worst had happened, I was saying. Only a miracle can save us now.
Well, I know Barack Obama wouldn’t tolerate being called a ‘miracle.’ He’s far too modest a man for that. But for those of us who never thought we would ever have the opportunity to cast an unambivalent ballot, for those of us used to settling for the best of a flawed field, this election is a miracle. Don’t get me wrong, while I agree with the vast majority of Barack’s policies (most especially his profound commitment to the Constitution, to Habeas Corpus, to the right of every person to be treated justly and with compassion) there are areas where I don’t share his views. For example, I support a single-payer, government-run, health care plan, although I’m not naïve about the chances of it ever happening. I believe whole-heartedly in the right of gay people to marry. Barack’s views on these issues are different than mine, but this does not bother me, because I trust him. I trust that his opinions are thoughtful and considered, and I know that he respects mine, even if we disagree.
One evening, not long ago, my husband and I took our two older children to hear Barack speak. When he walked out on the stage we all leapt to our feet, screaming, “Obama ‘08” “Obama ’08.”
No we’re not just fired up, but we are ready to go. Heck, we’re already going. Nothing’s going to stop us now.
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