We Did It!

Listening to the election returns Tuesday night was such a joy. I went into it unsure. Some people were saying that Obama was ahead in the polls. From other sources, I heard that the polls were tightening and the outcome was not so sure.

It's been a long time since I felt the stakes were this high. Maybe all the way back to Nixon's election in 1968 and again in 1972. This time it was different. This time I took an active role in the campaign. Back in the late sixties and early seventies, I was involved in the anti-war movement, but not in the presidential campaigns.

So this was my first experience with working on a presidential campaign. What a sense of excitement there was. I received multiple emails every day asking for donations, and I gave more than I originally planned to because they were so well crafted. Now, I think I'll go fish some of them out of my "old mail" box and keep them as examples of writing that made me whip out the credit card.

Then I began to feel that giving wasn't enough. I wanted to take part in the many phone calling efforts. The first one I responded to was a phone bank at the UAW. I wrote about that and about the chirpy old lady who saw no need for change. In the few weeks that followed, Bruce and I also went to a Move.On party in Brooklyn and a phone bank at the Shorefront Democratic Club in Coney Island. I also tried some phone calling from home, but somehow that wasn't as motivating as sitting in a roomful of other people who were also making calls.

We finished up with another phone bank at the UAW, but I reached none of the target people on November 3rd. Still, I did reach some people and hoped I did some good even if they were relatives of the person I intended to reach.

Tuesday evening I was restless and nervous. I started listening to the radio around 7 PM and listened for the next 5 hours.

The first few returns were pretty predictable. But then Pennsylvania, a battleground state, came in for Obama! That was excellent. The radio announcers were saying this was a very good sign, but they also said it was still possible for McCain to pull an upset.

When Ohio came in it was practically a lock. I woke Bruce up and told him Ohio went for Obama and we high fived each other. After that Bruce stayed up to hear the rest of the returns. Now it was looking extremely good. In order for McCain to win, the announcers said, something really extraordinary would have to happen. I prayed that nothing like that would happen.

My prayers were answered when, at 11 PM, the West Coast came in for Obama as predicted. Not only that, but Obama won Indiana, which hasn't deviated from the Republicans in a generation, and also Florida and Virginia. He not only won, but got something close to twice the electoral votes McCain garnered. That's a landslide in my book!

I wasn't watching on streaming video, which was surely available somewhere on the internet, but we were hearing the reactions, the cheering crowds, people breaking down in tears because they never thought a man with African American ancestry would become President in their lifetimes.

What a joyous moment and what a triumph for us all. It doesn't mean racism is gone, but it means that as a country we've begun to grow up. This time around, the majority of Americans wasn't fooled by all the smearing and the guilt-by-association that was hurled at Obama. Their concerns, the economy, the war, etc., are better served by Obama's plans and ideals than McCain's, and they made their choice without listening to negativity and outright lies.

What a relief and what a breath of fresh air. Now, instead of struggling against the odds as they have for 8 years, organizations looking to bring about positive change will have an easier road ahead of them. Now some of the energy we had to expend in fighting an administration determined to destroy the advances of women, minorities, etc., we'll be able to work WITH the new administration to continue the momentum of positive change.

What a blessing, and truly, God did help those who helped themselves. Change did not come from the top, change came from the bottom up, ordinary people working together in extraordinary ways, making calls, posting on blogs, using Web 2.0 (which I know very little about) to spread the word about President-Elect Barack Obama. This happened thanks to the people who drove to other states to knock on doors and canvass, thanks to so many people who made the time and made the energy to open the door to change and healing for a country that has been so damaged by 8 years of Republican rule.

I know my efforts changed one person's vote. My appeal to her was not a lofty one: I pointed out that McCain had plans to privatize social security and to cut Medicare. That made the difference. But once she went ahead and voted for Obama, she felt more empathy for the African-Americans she saw weeping with joy when the election was called at 11 PM. "I saw how much it meant to them," she said. This was the same woman who told me, a few days earlier, that she could never vote for a black man!

A rabbi once said that if you save a single life it is as if you have saved the world. Did changing one vote save the world? I don't know, but millions of us out there did the same thing, and changed some people's minds.

Now we all have a huge mess to sort out, and Obama is not going to have an easy time of it. We'll need patience, we'll need to be willing to make some sacrifices, and we'll need to keep up our energy to do the work that needs to be done.

But finally...we have that chance. Yes, America, Yes We Did!!