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A U T H O R
"A Play for Power"
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A Silver Lining to an Obama win?
The 2008 presidential election is over. America has spoken and my team lost. On the day following - after racking up a 305 point advance on Election Day - stock prices tumbled. The Dow Jones industrial average lost almost 500 points. Investors fretted as they faced the reality of exactly who won and what an Obama presidency is likely to mean to business.
A good friend had this to say, "Regardless of which candidate wins, on the day after the election, God will still be on His throne ... He may be holding His nose, but He'll still be on His throne, He'll still be watching out for us." In times like these, on days like today, perhaps the best secular advice comes from the lyrics of an old song written by Jerome Kern and sung by Judy Garland:
"Look for the silver lining
When e'er a cloud appears in the blue.
Remember somewhere, the sun is shining
And so the right thing to do
is make it shine for you."
Despite all the gloom and doom; despite getting our butts kicked and seeing more of our savings vanish, if we look hard enough and long enough, there are some bright spots in the Obama win - some things that all Americans, regardless of their politics, can be proud of.
For those that felt they were living in a place where race still matters - a place where one's skin color determines their station in life, the election of a black man to the highest office in the land changes everything. It forces black Americans to change their image of this country ... an image formed through centuries of racial repression that had them convinced they would never see a black person elected president.
When the votes were in and Barack Obama sailed past the 270 mark, oh how the joyous winners celebrated! According to the Associated Press, there was dancing in the rain in Philadelphia. Thousands marched downtown, cheering and dancing while car stereos blared music.
There was toasting with champagne in Cleveland. The crowd gathered in front of the TV in Keisha Johnson's living room, uncorked the bubbly and erupted in chants of "O-BAM-A, O-BAM-A". Tears flowed as one reveler, Mia Long, invoked history. To "our relatives who fought to make this happen," she toasted.
Conga drums beat in Harlem in a raucous celebration. A New Orleans-style jazz band led dancing Obama supporters down 125th Street. Next to the historic Apollo Theater, men played conga drums as marchers belted out, "Yes we can!" to the beat.
In Washington, D.C., traffic was gridlocked for hours as people flooded the roads and sidewalks, parading down Pennsylvania Avenue with drums, balloons and life-size cutouts of Obama. Earl Storm, 77, proudly wore an "I Voted" sticker and spoke of the night in reverent terms. "I feel like God answered our prayers," Storm said. "I think it's uplifting that the people who didn't think too much of politics, he brought these people out."
In St. Louis, resigned to a long wait at the polls, voters celebrated - aided by hot dogs, free drinks, a troupe of jugglers and a jazz combo. Terron Morris, 43, a beauty shop owner, was the last to vote at 9:30 p.m. He had showed up twice earlier in the day but couldn't stay because of work. But nothing was going to stop him from being a part of history. "We're talking about changing the world," he said.
And there was this reaction around the globe:
From Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd: "Forty-five years ago Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character. Today, what America has done is turn that dream into a reality."
From French President Nicolas Sarkozy: "With the world in turmoil and doubt, the American people, faithful to the values that have always defined America's identity, have expressed with force their faith in progress and the future."
From Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel: "The world faces significant challenges at the start of your term. I am convinced that Europe and the United States will work closely and in a spirit of mutual trust together to confront new dangers and risks and will seize the opportunities presented by our global world."
From Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Sing: "Obama's extraordinary journey to the White House will inspire people not only in (the United States) but also around the world."
From Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono: "Indonesia especially hopes that the U.S., under new leadership, will stand in front and take real action to overcome the global financial crisis, especially since the crisis was triggered by the financial conditions in the U.S."
From Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki: "We the Kenyan people are immensely proud of your Kenyan roots. Your victory is not only an inspiration to millions of people all over the world, but it has special resonance with us here in Kenya."
From Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev: "We hope that our partners - the new U.S. administration - will make a choice in favor of fully-fledged relations with Russia."
Here's what others had to say:
Condoleeza Rice: "As an African-American, I am especially proud because this is a country that's been through a long journey in terms of overcoming wounds and making race not the factor in our lives."
Rapper-actor "Bow Wow:" To be a young black man, and know that so many other young black men don't have a lot of hope - that's hope right there! Right on our TV screens. It doesn't get any bigger or better than that. I found myself saying, ‘A black man is president,' like, 30 times. Over and over. Feels good saying it."
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin: "If there is something we learned from the presidential election, if you don't aim high, you will never achieve your goals. I've been waiting a long time for yesterday."
A black morning show host on Atlanta radio said, "Barack winning has taken away every excuse black people have of being too poor, of growing up with a single mom."
At a barber shop in Washington, Akil Wilson, a 27-year-old barber said he looked into his two-year-old son's eyes Wednesday morning and told him "it's a different world now."
It is a different world - a different America. It's an America that talks the talk and walks the walk. It's an America that has confirmed once and for all its belief in the words that form the very foundation of our government, that "all men are created equal." The things that divided us for so long have passed away. The ugly image of what our country was in the past has been erased. It is now what it is today and what it ought to be tomorrow. Racism is dead; the debt has finally been paid.
Perhaps the brightest spot of all in an Obama win is this: on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 America voted to make race an irrelevant issue. In so doing, a record number of voters turned out to put the old race baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton out of a job.
Now that, my friends, is change I can believe in!