11-4-08

I don't want to say cheesy things. Or things that are cliche. But something happened last night that the whole world is buzzing from. Not only did we see the first black man elected president, but we saw a GREAT man elected president.

I am a liberal. And I am proud of that. My parents raised me to be a free-thinker. Politics, religion, it doesn't matter. I am a liberal. I believe in the upholding of the Constitution. I believe that women should always have the right to choose what happens to their bodies. I believe in equality no matter your race, creed, sexual preference. I believe that women have just as many rights as men, and should be given as such. I believe that my two best friends, a same-sex couple, should have the rights that all heterosexual couples do. I believe in affordable health care for everyone, as for a time in my life, I paid out of pocket for my own insurance, and understand the burden it is on the working class. I believe in the Earth, and hope to see it improve over the years to come, instead of perish because of ignorant people who can't understand its power and beauty. I am a liberal. And I helped to elect Barack Obama.

Last night, we spent 3 hours with our closest friends, glued to the television in hopes of seeing the man who has not only inspired us in that room but a nation sick and tired of the religious Right policies of a failed administration. Every one of us in that room understood the magnitude of every mistake of the Bush administration, and could not for a minute see how our nation could elect into office the McCain/Palin team. When, at 10pm, the TV flashed "Obama is President-Elect", we all sat there, in awe and disbelief. Shocked, we said "What? For real?", and it was. We kissed, we hugged, we cried. A collective group of young professionals, moved to a point of absolute joy no one could explain or put into words. When President-elect Obama came to the stage with his wife and two daughters, the tears silently flowed from all of us, myself included. We all sat in silence, listening to him speak of how we as a nation did this. The man who has inspired hope, change, ideas, freedom in each and every Obama supporter, spoke and we listened as he thanked Joe Biden, his family, his wife, and of course, promising a new puppy to his two young daughters.

I hope the pride I feel as a liberal American feels the same to everyone who shared in as magnificent night as I did.