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The way we see it: Obama proves the American Dream
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What can be said that most Americans have not already felt in their hearts? From what vocabulary can we pull to embrace the enveloping emotion of pride? Not just any pride, but the kind of pride that beams red, white and blue. We’re talking old-fashioned American pride.
Obama has won the presidency.
Yes, that’s right, Barack Hussein Obama, the black man from the Illinois Senate. Notice the symbolic middle name, once used in a derogatory sense. It now symbolizes our progress and the American ideal. Some Americans never imagined they would see an African American ascend to the presidency in their lifetime.
While history still lingers in the air, we know a new dawn is rising and with it, a new American frontier.
For some, this renews the faith that America is indeed a land where anything is possible, and a person can overcome insurmountable odds to achieve great things. That a man who has a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas can rise to this stature is amazing.
This is historic proof that a person who struggled their whole life to find out who they are and where they belong can claim their identity as an American, and go as far as to become President of the United States of America.
Many Americans see our personal adversity reflected in our new President. For us, his victory is our victory. His struggle has been our struggle and despite all odds, we have an unshakable belief that we will overcome.
Obama articulated this point well in his acceptance speech when he said, “This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can.”
McCain laid out, in structured eloquence, his thoughts on the election results when he said, “Tonight, tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Sen. Obama. I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.”
We can only put this one way: this occasion marks a huge turning point in the social structure of our nation and we’ve never been more proud. November 4, 2008 marks a point in history that inspires our future, one of unity, civility and possibility.
ARBITER STAFF