A President-elect
Posted: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 1:57 AM by Carrie Dann
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
CHICAGO -- A century and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation, five decades after Brown v. Board of Education and 40 years after the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, a black man has been elected president of the United States.
Barack Obama, a man who tells crowds that the premise of his candidacy was his faith that the American people were ready for a "new kind of politics", has achieved what many blacks in America never thought they would see during their lifetime. He won 51% of the vote and 338 electoral votes (as of 1am EST) and he did it by moving red states like Florida, Colorado and Virginia into the blue column and earning the overwhelming support of blacks, Hispanics, women, the young, first time voters and college educated whites.
“I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you,” Obama said.
The 47-year-old junior senator from Illinois told the crowd that it had taken a long time, but “change has come to America.”
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” he began.
More than 240,000 people gathered on a unseasonably warm night in and around Grant Park - including celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee, Vogue Magazine’s Andre Leon Talley, Tatyana Ali, Kerry Washingotn and will.i.am, a singer whose mashup of an Obama speech to a “Yes we can” tune became an internet sensation.
Six spotlights shone in the sky overhead as the crowd roared and people jumped up and down cheering and when the race was called at 11pm Eastern. Obama took the stage with his family about an hour later.
“To all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope,” he said as cheering supporters waved American flags. “For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. “Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.”
He thanked his wife and his daughters Sasha and Malia, telling them they “have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House."
It was not just a historic moment, it was also a bittersweet one. Madelyn Dunham, the senator's grandmother and the last relative who had a hand in raising him, died early Monday morning.
”While she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching,” Obama said. “Along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.”
The long battle for his place at this podium began with his win in the Iowa caucuses and culminated with an Electoral College blowout. Obama amassed the necessary electoral votes swiftly enough to make for an early night.
In his speech, the senator spoke about the small donors who made his record-breaking fundraising possible, he promised the rest of the world a “new dawn of American leadership” and he spoke about the economic and national security challenges facing the country.
“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep,” he said. “We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.”
Sounding the tone of unity that was long a theme of his campaign, Obama told Americans who had not voted for him “I hear your voices, I need your help and I will be your president too.”
Apart from the huge crowds and the enthusiasm, the Obama campaign's mode of operation has -- if anything -- been calm, steady and disciplined - reflecting the characteristics of its leader, a man who said throughout the long race that he did not put a lot of faith in polls because a year ago those same polls had suggested his former rival, Hillary Clinton was a shoe-in.
He ended with the story of a 106-year-old- black woman from Georgia and the progress she had seen in America during her lifetime, repeating a common campaign refrain “Yes we Can.”
“This is our moment. 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,” he said. “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.”
