"A mind once stretched by a new idea can never regain its original dimensions." ~Oliver Wendall Holmes

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Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Hope Prevails!

I would trade this whole town of Bethel for a small piece of Grant park right now. Today has been an exciting day! More later...

I thought John McCain did a very good job with his concession speech. Everyone keeps using the words gracious and graciousness... I can't agree more! I also have to give it up for McCain in the amount of votes that he actually got. Right now he is only 3% lower in the popular vote than Obama and I have to say that I expected it to be a much higher discrepancy than this.

I went and voted after school today at my polling place. I got right in to vote without having a line or crowd, although we broke records all over the states today for the numbers of voters who turned out at polling places. As I was walking out of the building, I heard someone say that they wanted to cast their vote before the new president was elected. Because Alaska is 4 hours behind Eastern time, most of the polls in the other states were already closed by the time many Alaskans cast their ballot.It was only about an hour after I got home that Obama had been announced as winning the election by breaking the 270 electoral vote barrier.

Although I would love to be standing in the midst of Grant Park tonight, I am grateful for the time zone that I live in right now. It is still early here and I am able to watch the speeches and election updates without staying up too late. I think about people who may already be in bed right now (I dont know how anyone could go to bed without knowing) and wont find out about the presidential results until morning. I cant imagine missing all of this excitement.

Barack Obama gave a very moving and compelling speech. As I saw his family walk on to the stage and watched the way he interacted with them and with Biden's family, I couldnt help but feel a bit of relief wash over me. I felt like I was watching a real family. Real people handling real life. It heartens me to think that we will have someone in office who can relate to real people and their real problems and make decisions based on real life.

It makes me happy that both Ohio and Nevada voted for Barack, esp Ohio since they voted for Bush last time. I am anxious to see how Indiana will go, mostly because of some heated debates I had this summer with friends who live there. I am also interested to see which way Alaska will go, even though it is highly unlikely that they will vote against their governor.

Looks like Democrats are also gaining seats in the Senate and House! Until this year, I have not professed to be a Democrat or Republican. I always tried to vote for the candidate that supported the issues that were important for me. This year as I filled the bubbles in on my ballot, I couldnt help but notice that I was voting for Democrats. Aside from the Presidential election, I hadnt paid attention to which party the other candidates belonged to. Based on that, I have to conclude that I should probably change my political from Undeclared to Democrat.

We are making history, America! I am looking forward to what the next few years hold. Can we make some positive changes in our country? Yes...WE CAN! Let's make this country a place I/we can be proud to call home! Yes...WE CAN!

1 comment:

Susan Iverson said...

I am so excited to see what the future brings with this fresh president. My feelings watching Obama and his family on the stage were very much the same as yours. I thought his speech was very impressive and just a small indication of the work still to come. There is so much positivity in his demeanor and his attitude. I think we will once again establish respect for our country in the rest of the world but it will take time to erase 8 years of damage. Nice post!