Today is the first anniversary of the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. November 4, 2008 was the greatest day I can remeber, from a non-personal perspective. But hindsight tells me it was VERY personal. I can now feel confident my daughter, step-son, and granddaughters will be living in an America in which they will have a great chance to live the life they want to lead and how they want to live it. They will be the beneficiaries of great advancements in health care reform and civil rights across the board. They will benefit from economic policies that will benefit all Americans, just not the haves and have mores. We can thank ourselves for this, and of course the President. And all of us must keep vigilant and working hard, so the nightmare of GOP dominance of OUR government never returns.
Happy Anniversary!!
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It is always a pleasure to read something positive about your President, few and far between articles ever give him credit for what he has achieved so far, this Huffy blogger does.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/hope-change-and-the-long_b_345734.html
Well done GL! Good to c’ya here and I do hope we’ll be seeing a lot more of ya. It is an excellent day for a celebration isn’t it? Think I’ll have a taste of the bubbly myself!! 🙂 Cheers!
Happy 1st Anniversary America and President Obama!
When your President was elected, I cried tears of joy, it was early in the morning here so the champagne cooling in the fridge had to wait until that evening. I was emailing with two friends I had met on HuffyPuffy but sleep took over and I nodded off with my Mac clutched in my arms. The next day I was glued to CNN, wild horses couldn’t drag me away, we celebrated that evening. I was so happy for all my American friends, old and new, I was also happy for the world and it’s citizens.
It pains me that the President does not get the credit he deserves for all of the bills he has signed in since he’s been in office, instead your media and the freaks prefer to waste your time by pointing out the things he hasn’t accomplished in his mere 10 months in office. It infuriates me that there are those who are so gullible that they swallow anything and everything your media feeds them, how lazy is that?
I have complete confidence in him and know the world will be a much better place when he leaves.
Yes, HAPPY 1st ANNIVERSARY Mr. President and thank the Lord that you won!!
Cheers!
That would of course be “champagne.”
Oops, I successfully edited my spelling mistake but can’t delete this comment, please take no notice. 🙂
That happened to me the other day. Try going back to “home and it should clear.
Nope, it’s still there. I’m sure that Adlib will spot it and remove it when he’s around again.
Thanks!
You must be drinking too much of the bubbly now. 😉
I wish that I was but it’s morning here and I haven’t had a drink since the 16th of October because the last time I think that we overdid it a wee bit, mixing our drinks. I had a 3 day hangover, must be getting old. 🙂
Thanks for posting this, GreatLardini!
Today I was thinking back to election day, remembering how excited I was; more excited about an election than I had ever been in my adult life. I recall being both nervous and exhilarated as after blogging my heart out for Obama for several months prior to the election, I live-blogged election day. [ http://indiedesign.typepad.com/inspire_emotion/2008/11/election-day-2008.html ]
Then, at 11PM, ABC News projected Barack Obama to be the 44th President…….and I promptly began crying happy/relieved tears as I realized we had done it!
A year later, I am more sober, more realistic, but I still have faith in this very good, decent, intelligent, and deliberative man whom we chose to lead this country.
Obama’s Election Eve speech in Chicago.
omg, I didn’t even recognize GreatLardini! (That’s what being slightly dyslexic will get you!)
So glad to see you here!
I have to say, when I hear the words “President Barack Obama” I am to this day filled with surprise, gratitude, and joy — like a kid who got the long-shot, prayed for gift for her birthday, and still can’t quite believe it.
My biggest emotion election day 2008 was one of great relief. Relief that America has returned to some semblance of sanity. Of course after the president has been inaugurated we see the insanity coming back again which is trying to block any progress, this includes many progressives who just don’t understand the meaning of patience, steady progress and advocacy rather than grandstanding, extortion and mindless criticism. Our problems are so vast and entrenched in the fabric of American culture that to many people don’t understand it will take a generation of Democratic leaders to change America. The election of Barrack Hussein Obama is only the first step but many progressives think it was the only step we needed.
That’s such an important perspective. I wish it would catch on. There’s a lot to do, and too many people are sitting back and complaining instead of getting to work.
Great post, Great Lardini!
I remember the following day after Obama’s victory when the MSM showed clips from around the country and the world with people celebrating our election.
But my favorite memory was when George W. Bush came out to congratulate Obama, and how shell shocked he looked.
He almost looked to me, as if he were going to cry!
It was as though Bush Jr. never knew how much the world hated him.
George really was insulated, I believe, and lived in a bubble.
He never saw the protests.
I love our President Obama!
I’m normally not a big believer in conspiracy theories, but the one Internet viral rumour that I’m starting to really wonder about is that Bush was drunk through much of his last term as president. Bush might have just been hung over!
LOL!
The only bit of respect George managed to gain from me was when he did not fully pardon Scooter Libby, and we all know that Cheney is still pissed about that one.
We were in France during the pretzel incident, and the French had much fun making jokes about Bush choking.
That was so embarrassing to be an American in France at that time – we lived there for 2 years – when the Republicans wasted time in wanting to rename food.
Freedom Fries and Freedom toast.
How embarrassing, and contrary to popular opinion, the French or any Europeans for that matter, do not hate us as people, but they certainly did hate us for Bush.
It wasn’t personal, it was our politics.
Has anyone seen Oliver Stone’s “W”? (Me and my never-ending movie references!) A really interesting psychological portrait of Dubya–and more impartial than you might expect.
Stone’s take on things was that a very intensely dysfunctional father/son relationship was the source of Dubya’s demons, and that was compounded by his extreme beliefs after he “got religion.” Whatever the cause, he seemed to have an amazing need/ability to create his own reality. And once he did, no amount of evidence could pull him out of his delusion.
We saw it and I thought that Stone made George a sympathetic character.
Liked the movie, but have to admit, it was just too soon to think about Bush Jr.
We love movies, so do not apologize!
We rarely, if ever, go to the movie theaters, but we rent from Red Box for a dollar, or check movies out from the library.
But we are big on movies and books in our household!
Hi GL. Great Post.
I will never forget that night. It was a neat day. We watched the election returns at a downtown theatre and after Obama’s speech in Chicago, decided it was time to go home. I live in a very liberal college town and there were literally four or five thousand people in the streets celebrating, a lot of them college kids, and a lot of the celebration alcohol-fueled. There were so many people in the streets that the cops blocked off all the streets into and out of downtown because people were going to get run over by traffic. It sucked for us, because we couldn’t get out of downtown; we were quite literally trapped and I spent much of the night carrying a sleepy 8-year-old on my shoulder.
Then some of the people who had been celebrating a bit too much in the local bars all night started throwing beer bottles at the cops and the cop cars and for a brief moment the whole situation became really frightening. I imagined police were going to start using tear gas or clubbing people over the head.
Amazingly, the cops actually kept their cool. They seemed to realize that 99 percent of the people running around in the streets were being completely cool. I think they arrested a total of 7 people.
Finally, at 2 a.m., the crowd dispersed enough that they reopened the streets and we could go home. So for four hours, we had closed down the city!
Great story, Pepe……thanks for sharing it.
We closed the city down!
I remember how upset I was in 2000, and how I could tell it would end the way it did when W. (after being asked how he felt about FL going for Gore) smirked and replied “That’s not what my people tell me.” Something wasn’t right with that picture, and I felt crushed.
Forward to 2004, and how it ended. I stayed in bed for four days, a la Brian Wilson, crying.
So 2008 was a beautiful and joyous moment. I remember being SO anxious, however, that I refused to go to the party UNTIL they called to tell me that Obama had won PA. I couldn’t even watch it myself. At that point, I could breathe.
The inaugural was also a beautiful and celebratory moment. I live in a staunchily Republican district and it was fun looking at people frown! But half of us were smiling to beat the band……what a day!!!
BTW: I don’t stay on the computer long, so if I don’t respond quickly to you or to a question, it’s because I have to share the computer with my techno-weenie husband who thinks it is HIS domain!
@escribacat: My name at HP was SteadyOn. I took it after hearing Obama being described as a “steady eddie” by someone, and after feeling tossed by Cheney. (or is that after feeling like tossing?) Thanks for asking! I wasn’t big on fanning stuff, but enjoyed reading all of the postings from the PlanetPOV bunch. Glad to have this site!!
It’s good to be reminded, a year later, of the elation that bubbled across the country when the news of Obama’s victory burst out.
I think we all knew that once he was sworn in, the really hard part would begin.
What has surprised me is how hard it truly has been–harder than I had anticipated it would be. I’m so impressed at the way Barack Obama has handled the stress. But what somewhat blind-sided me was how vicious the opposition turned out to be, how much racism is still covert (even overt) in the country,
how utterly venal and corrupt so much of American capitalism is, the length to which the monied class would go to get their way, the cowardice and greed that dominates Congress, and the jaw-dropping gullibility of the teabagger segment of society.
I confess to some discouragement–not with Obama–but with all of the above.
I know people who voted for Dubya twice–lost their jobs because of that–and BLAME OBAMA for it! They would vote Republican again in a heartbeat. That’s discouraging.
But then I remember the one word that is most associated with Obama’s campaign: hope. Gotta hang on to that.
And, of course, the fact that Palin’s boy lost in NY State doesn’t hurt either!
I’ve been dismayed by the opposition as the months wear by as well, but on the other hand, I think for the first two or three months after the election, when I got up every morning, the first thing I did was check the news to make sure that Obama was okay. I still often have that fear at the back of my mind. It’s a bit better now than it was at first.
I was very young when JFK was killed but I remember clearly that my first political awareness was when first MLK and then RFK were killed. I was still a kid and I never got over the idea that one (or a few) bad guys could destroy the dreams of hundreds of millions of people.
I was in 6th grade and had just returned from lunch when I heard about President Kennedy’s assassination. At that age the concept of it was difficult to grasp until I got home and remember watching Walter Conkrite talk about it. I do remember that we didn’t have teachers talk to us about things like that back then. And the loses of MLK and RFK. But my real awakening was the VietNam war and the protests. It took me 30 years to be able to view footage of the 1968 Chicago convention again. And the pain is still deep.
We have lost a lot of dreams, but the good thing about dreams is that man has the infinite capacity to dream, and then to take those dreams to fruition. We just need more great dreamers and people willing to work on making those dreams real.
That “dark thought” lurks in the background all the time, doesn’t it? “Is he going to stay safe?” Amazingly, he (Obama) seems to be totally sans souci about the whole thing. I know I’m not! There are so many people who would be pleased to see the Prez out of the picture that it’s scary. Have to assume that the Secret Service will do the job they’re trained for. Besides prayer (for “them what cares to”), it’s all we’ve got.
For those of us who remember the aftermath of the death of MLK, think what would happen today in this far more armed and polarized environment. And I am not sure I would decide to maintain my veneer of civility, even, if such were to occur to the President. Such acts to any man (gender neutral) are heinous, but to the leader of this democracy, it is obscene. I never wished such a thing on any Republican, nor would I ever, for that same reason.
May the President stay safe and healthy and lead us to a better America.
This is my biggest fear also…I pray for his safety everyday…
I was very young when JFK was shot, but I still remember my mother running out of the house screaming, all the ladies in the neighborhood were all outside crying..
With RFK, I was home sick with the flu and in my parents bed, because they had a tv in their room, I remember watching the “breaking news flash” and seeing Bobbie being held by some people..his eyes vacant…
With MLK…We had a celebration of his life at school and watched the ‘I had a dream’ speech…while some parents protested outside…
Great post, GL. That night was spectacular. I will never forget the moment. I had some friends over to watch the returns. The cameras were scanning the nighttime crowd in Chicago and you could almost see the realization ripple through that huge crowd that it had actually happened. I felt it in my cozy living room too — that we Americans had done something magnificent. I have never felt so proud to be an American as that moment.
It was a great step forward in this country’s evolution — but from what I’ve seen since his election, the people have a real battle on their hands with corporations and the media. It was pretty obvious under Bush that Big Money would push forward any policies that were corrupt, anti-social, destructive to human life, disempowering, and thieving. But under Obama it has become just as obvious that they will do everything they can to prevent policies that are good for us.
We have a real fight on our hands. And there’s no standard bearer for that fight. All the hopefuls have fallen into dysfunction — Air America, the Huffington Post, Daily Kos. The fight for genuine progressive populism is a tough one. But it’s a fight whose time has come.
I still have hopes that the progressive base will find its voice under this president. But so far, it has been a deep disappointment to me, on a personal level.
President Obama, on the other hand, has proven to be better for this country than I could have imagined. The breadth of legislation that has passed in this short time is truly stunning. The rehabilitation of our image around the world is unbelievable — with a Nobel Peace Prize as a symbol of that sea change. The constant movement in the right direction. The feeling that there is a man of integrity and humanity at the helm. All a source of great comfort and inspiration.
Now progressives — we must find our voice. This is the ideal time.
Well said, nellie. My disappointment lies 1) with a corrupt congress who has been advocating for corporate interests for so long they no longer even realize they are corrupt and 2) the impatient left who want what they want and they want it right now or else they’ll just stay home and let a republican get elected. It’s that attitude that got us eight years of George Bush.
Unfortunately, that is true. And voting is not difficult. In Arizona, you can be put on a permanent absentee voter list (no, that isn’t a contradiction in terms) and get a mail in ballot for every election. And most people’s polling places are not that far from where they live and in an off year election are not usually busy. It’s a 10 minute effort at best.
We’ve got to get the momentum going again, as we did in last years elections…someone prominent in the party has to step up and take the reins again…the message is getting lost…
I keep writting letters, sending e-mails to the MSM, but feel like I’m alone in getting things changed…I’m probly going to have the FBI show up one day a my door….’local loonie being questioned’
I’m with you nellie, we have to find our voice, this morning the MSM proved to me that they have their own agenda…we need to get it out there somehow…here is a good start and also media matters…
Like my hero Obama has said, it’s time to grab a mop! Anything we can do to make this a better country. My husband and I recently lost our bearded dragon that was over 10 years old. Instead of throwing the lights and aquarium away, we are donating it to a reptile shop that is trying to eek out a living in this nearly depression state of Michigan.
Sorry about your dragon, G. Had to google it to see what it looks like.
Also sorry for your loss. Many people don’t understand those who like reptiles. I lost a three foot snake in my parents house when I was young, I think it crawled out the window. (It was never found, my mother wasn’t pleased)
It was good of you to donate the terrarium. When I lost one of my dogs I donated a lot of dog items to the human society, because they could always use them, too.
Very well said and spot on Nelly per usual.
Nice post! I also thing that 11-4-2008 was the greatest day of my life other than the day I got married. I was so happy when I knew Obama was going to win after he got Ohio, that I started to hyperventilate! There is much work to be done, and he even got more help from NY 23 last night! ‘They’ will never get their country back!