Change We Can Believe In

[Brad Benoit]

Victory!

I cannot express how good it feels to be able to post this. Two years after little-known Illinois Senator Barack Obama anounced his candidacy for the highest office in America, we finally did something different.

We made history.

I cannot speak from experience, but this election may be the greatest thing that ever happened to African Americans in this country. Yes, 1865 was a big year. Yes, the Civil Rights movement was huge. But simply to abolish slavery was not enough. Simply to claim equality and fair treatment was not enough. After 221 years, the people of The United States of America buried the past and elected an African American as their President.

There have been other important victories in the past. But none could ever match this one.

Barack Obama, as of 11:00 P.M. November 4, 2008, won the 2008 Election decisively. Not only did he defeat John McCain, but he did so with an overwhelming lead. As of November 6th, his total Electoral Vote count was 364 of the 270 required to win the election. On the Popular Vote, Obama had another clear victory: 52.5% to John McCain's 46.2%. It's one thing for a Black man to win. But for him to win by such a large margin shows that we as a nation have finally beguin to really forget the past. We are moving forward.

We are bringing Change.

President-Elect Obama (it feels good to say that) has had my support for a long time, and we all know I didn't try to hide it. I beleive that he is the most qualified person to be President right now. And here's why:

1. Barack Obama is very intelligent, eloquent, dignified, and respectable. He is well-liked around the world at a time when America needs allies.

2. He has proven he is capable of strong leadership and wise decisions. We saw this three times now: the first was his selection of 6th-longest serving member of the Senate, Joe Biden, who has 35 years of meaningful experience and proven judgment on many issues; the second was the way he handled the Economic Crisis, when he met with White House officials, the top Economic strategists in the country, and other important people who gave him advice and listened to his advice; the third was his selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, a man who is not afraid to take on opposition to get things done, and a former adviser of President Clinton.

3. He is the embodiment of Change. As the first African American President, Barack Obama represents the kind of unity that Americans need right now. This is a tough time for everybody, so we might as well go through it together.

4. He has had a LOT more experience than most people give him credit for. Sarah Palin might make fun of his job as a "Community Organizer," but in fact he did more in that position than Governor Palin could ever hope to do as the mayor of a town of 8,000. Barack Obama worked for three years as the director of the Developing Communities Project, a church-based community organization. (The "Church-Based" part, by the way, proves without a doubt that he is NOT a Muslim, though as Colin Powell pointed out, there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim anyway). In this position—in only three years—he increased the staff from one to thirteen members, more than quintupled its annual budget from $70,000 to $400,000, and set up a job training program, a college prep tutoring program, and a tenants’ rights organization. He later went on to become an Illinois State Senator in a district of over 750,000 people.

I'm sure many people could think of more reasons, but I need to keep this post short so pepole will actually read it.

Oh, and for those who bring up the idea that you should not just vote for your party and adapt your beliefs to the candidate, I would like to note that I didn't have to change any of my opinions to support "The One." As a matter of fact, during the campaigning process I learned that his positions on many of the issues were actually almost identical to mine.

I hope that anyone who did not support Barack Obama will soon see that on November 4th, 2008, We The People of the United Stated of America made the right choice.


It really was a Change We Can Believe In.




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[SonicJon]

Only problem was, another president tried this "Change" campaign about 100 years ago, his name was Warren G. Harding, and he is ranked one of the worst presidents of all time on many polls, such as C-Span, Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune, suprisingly Bush wasn't even near the worst.

In my mind, history can repeat itself, so hopefully Obama does good things, than bad. I mean, I voted for him..

Then again, I did not like McCain/Palin..

Though I voted for him only because my independent votes don't seem to count.....

[Anca]

He can't keep all of the promises he made, but he can improve some factors of our country.
And what I love is that he said that it might not be in his term or in the next, but change that we can see will happen.

Nothings going to happen overnight. We are all going to have to take little steps to make things better. You're not going to see change right away.

It's not going to be raining gumdrops anytime soon but at least we have a future president that's creating a new path. I think Obama's going to be a great and honest president. Can't wait until January 20th.

[SonicJon]

Ack, While very happy that Barrack won, I am still a little worried. I believe that no president can fix the economy, as the economy is run by everyone, not just the government. FDR actually slowed down the economy thanks to his New Deal even... The economy will do whatever it wants depending on what people think. Now yes, the first step of regulating our banks will be great. But, after that is all done I will keep a weary eye on this guy, as I do not believe anything will be done in his term.

Not that I am saying McCain would get anything done in his term either. America has got to fix itself, by fixing the damages that Clinton and Bush did, but I want to see America actually caring before I see the government doing a bailout to the rescue...

Also, some of Barrack's policies don't make me happy

Since he does not approve of gay marriage after all.....

Neither did McCain, but I still believe this discrimination against a minority is wrong. We should not of let proposal 2 be passed since it was a majority voting against a minority...

Well in the end, I believe it will take two terms of presidency to get anything done, whether that be from Obama, or another candidate.

For now, congratulation Mr.Obama, lets hope to actually SEE change, than hear about change in the future.

[Brad Benoit]

I have never seen a candidate who could get such a crowd anywhere. And towards the end of the campaign, Barack Obama got a crowd of 100,000 in Colorado, 75,000 in Oregon, 100,000 in St. Louis, 80,000 in Denver, 200,000 in Berlin, and others.

This was one of the greatest Campaigns in American History. Now it's time to make the same true of the Presidency.