Monday, January 19, 2009

Thanks dude!

During the 2004 DNC I was brought to tears by this guy I’d never heard of. He spoke clearly and deliberately. He was a throwback figure, reminding me of my early (early!) years, listening to Kennedy and Johnson. He was all about civil rights. But the only race he touted was the human race. It was a remarkable speech. To this day, I think it may have been his best. I hoped at that moment that he would someday run for President, and when he finally did he was my guy. I was never really an Edwards guy, even though he was from NC. I didn’t want Hillary, even though I’m sure she would have been fine. I needed a LEADER, the nation needed a LEADER and the world needed a LEADER! This guy had it.
And I’m so glad he made it (although it’s still really hard to believe!). It’s been so long since we’ve had a leader, we’re all so tired of fighting. I wanna thank you Mr. Obama for a couple of things before you become our next President. First of all, I want to thank you for running a respectable campaign. You never embarrassed us. You were thoughtful and careful with your words and never talked down to your opponents, even when they tried to drag you into a “he-said, she-said”. You were above the fray. Shouts of “terrorist”! and “kill him”! rolled off your back, even when they totally freaked us out. Thank you for ALL of your hard work. I’m sure you spent many sleepless nights (and will!) with the weight of the world on you, speeches rolling around in your head, what to say/ask the next day’s dignitary. Thank you for continually inspiring us. It became so important to me that you won that I even got MY slack ass off the couch to knock door to door. The alternative was just too scary for us, and makes me shudder to this day what could have been. Thank you for lifting us from darkness and divisiveness and bringing us together, ALL of us, black, white, gay, straight, Christian, atheist, agnostic…You were right on time, and now we will stand behind you, because you stood behind us…ALL of us! And most of all thanks for that four letter word...hope!
And it's been a long time since we've had that!

4 comments:

roscoe said...

Indeed!

Anonymous said...

Here's to his success, because it will be the NATION's success as well.

New Heathens said...

Amen brother!

Alex Little said...

Beautifully said. Thanks.