In response to the recent Weekly Reader poll (and children's ability to reflect their parents' attitudes and therefore predict their presidential preferences) I tried my hand at electoral prognosticating, and feel pretty good about the effort.Thank you. Thank you, my friends. Thank you for coming here on this beautiful Arizona evening.
My friends, we have — we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly.
A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him.
(BOOING)
Please.
To congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.
In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.
This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.
I've always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too.
But we both recognize that, though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound.
A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters.
America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States.
Let there be no reason now ... Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth...
2 comments:
In our EDF 203 class we had a brief discussion about the outcome of the presidential election. While, I understand the view points of some thinking that U.S. citizens were eager to make history by electing an African-American president, I think that is highly underestimating the forethought that people put into who they vote for. Many people understand the weight of importance there is in deciding the next president, and voting based solely on skin color would be irrational and hasty. People should not undermine his victory by deeming it solely based on race. President Elect Barack Obama has a good message, he is an eloquent speaker and represents many things to many people, hope, CHANGE, integrity, unity, among other things. Not even his toughest critics can say that he ever played the race card, I believe that speaks volumes about his integrity and not wanting his campaign to be about differences or America's past oppression, but about unity and optimism for a greater America. He was the right candidate for the country. It was made obvious in the 1984 election when Democratic Candidate, Rev. Jesse Jackson lost, that Americans wouldn't vote for someone based on skin color just to make history.
Furthermore, the past eight years have been very hard for the nation. Unfortunately, through these tribulations Republicans have been the dominant power and scapegoat for any atrocities suffered. Any republican presidential candidate was going to face monumental hardships distancing themselves from the current powers that be and John McCain could not get away from that stigma. He did deliver a gracious concession speech. And could be a valuable help to our current President Elect. But, Barrack Obama was not thrown into office on some whim, the country has uniformly agreed that he is the best candidate to reroute the direction of our nation.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Elizabeth.
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