Election Reaction

Election Reaction - Notice it is SO quiet!

Results were so astounding - people are still digesting their own emotional reaction.

I watched the returns come in with my daughter & her husband. She & I cheered loudly when Iowa results came in (we’re proud to be from Iowa, where Obama’s campaign was launched). Soon the Electoral Vote count shot up with west coast results in & we all jumped up cheering roundly, including the dog. Fireworks went off nearby in their neighborhood.

We marveled at McCain’s concession speech in Phoenix. We all thought the old McCain is back! He was gracious & respectful - as if he was speaking code to old friends that the REAL John McCain was still there. Good for him!

Soon after the singer finished at Grant Park in Chicago, Barack Obama walked out with his family to a HUGE uproar. After hugging his wife & kids, he stepped to the podium - looking punch-drunk exhausted - & launched one of his finest speeches, firing up that crowd of supporters in Grant Park even more! Not long after more fireworks go off nearby.

Loved the families up on stage at Grant Park!! Pictures like that are worth 1,000,000 words when the world is looking on. Their mothers! Well, what can I say?

Listening to NPR analyse the results the next morning, I realized Obama had been given a mandate. I found myself quietly crying, my heart swelled knowing there were more than 60 million Americans who also want our beloved country to once again be respected & loved by the rest of the world.

The pride I feel is not related to electing a man of bi-racial heritage. It is directly connected to Obama's stand against invading Iraq when it was risky for him to do so as a candidate for the Illinois Senate. He called it dumb then & he was right!

Obama didn’t know then just how many good old-fashioned Americans agreed!!

~ An informed electorate is necessary for a strong nation. ~