After what seemed like non-stop campaigning for nearly two years, the final word was given minutes after California polls closed: History had been made.
Our 44th president-elect was clearly Barack Obama after he went from 241 electoral votes to just over 300. The United States voted for change, and America will definitely be receiving that change. Obama ran his campaign so well that it seemed basically improbable that he could lose.?
Although right before he gave his acceptance speech at Grant Park in Chicago, a humble Obama sent out e-mails to all of those signed up on his Web site reminding the people how this election was really won.
He wrote, “You made history every single day during this campaign, every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.”
Indeed, the election of Obama would not have been possible if the people did not vote. History was made in this respect in many different forms. To name a couple, voter registration went up by 15 percent, and young voters actually showed up at the polls. But it was truly his campaign strategy that won him this election.
It seems as though Obama began his campaign in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention with his speech where he first appeared on national television. Between the DNC and 2007, Obama began speaking at graduations, focused on faith-based organizations, unions and appeared many times on Fox News to discuss his ethics reform. That’s something that many previous democratic candidates had not done.
He started from the ground up and realized that it was most important to reach the people that would most likely be his future supporters and volunteers. He kept his basic message the same throughout his campaign, “Restoring America,” unlike that of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s campaign that never had a clear goal or message.?
Obama raised more money in the month of August than any other candidate had done in history, attracting nearly 500,000 first-time donors.
Obama used the Internet to collect small donations that allocated much more than he might have expected. Obama’s campaign use of the Internet also made history, changing the face of campaigns for future generations.
Racial barriers have fallen, and we the people have elected the first African-American president in history. Obama took toss up states Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa, and New Mexico and just the fact that Obama took Florida 51 percent to 49 percent is a milestone in our history.
Obama has promised many things but everyone must remember that change does not happen over night. It will take more than just a couple of years to dig ourselves out of the political and economic mess at our feet. Democrats are now in control of both the House and the Senate for the first time since 1995 and now face the difficult task of governing the country through what possibly could be a recession. Obama also plans to cut taxes for most Americans, to get the United States out of Iraq and to expand health care all while he deals with our economic crisis that has proven to be Americans’ main concern.
We must continue to hope that after this political race to the presidency our country will not stay divided as red and blue states, like so many polling maps have presented it to us, it’s time that we all work to together to make sure Obama keeps his word to cross party lines. As he has said, we will not be divided by race, political affiliation, sex or sexual preference. We must become united as Americans.