It is the day after the election.  It is an important day for us to reflect.  I would first like to thank all those who voted.  Without voting, there would be no participation within our government.  To those who cannot vote yet due to their age, I hope that you will in the next election.  Finally, to those who did not vote, I hope that after watching this election, you realize how important your vote is.  I have spent this entire day reflecting upon what happened, and these are my thoughts, and I hope that you share yours.

I remember about two years ago I heard that a man named “Barack Obama” declared he would run for president in 2008.  I distinctly remember turning to my girlfriend at the time and saying “this guy has no chance”. Just look at his name.  We’re at war with Obama Bin laden, and this guy thinks that the same people who elected four more years of George W. Bush will vote for him.  I believed that the American people had lost their minds in 2000, and that we would never recover after this current administration.  I was very pessimistic when it came to politics.  When I was a child, I looked up to Bill Clinton, but when I was a teenager, I couldn’t stand George W. Bush.  I didn’t have any faith or hope in our government.  I wanted it to change, but I didn’t think any sort of revolutionary would try to turn our government around soon.  In the past year it took this man that I originally put so little faith in, to completely change my mind.

My first encounter with this election started in the primaries.  I went into the primaries supporting Barack Obama.  After a class project I felt that John Edwards was actually the most qualified for presidency.  When Edwards dropped out I then had to decide; am I a Hillary Clinton supporter or a Barack Obama Supporter.  During the primaries Bill Clinton came to my college.  I remember shaking his hand.  I remember the air in that room.  It was probably one of the most magical moments of my life.  He had some sort of aura about him that made you know that this man is full of purity.  This is when I thought I might be a Clinton supporter.  I then went to a John Kerry rally at the University of Washington.  Kerry urged University of Washington students to support Obama.  Now, while Kerry did not completely convince me to vote for Obama, he made me think.  If Barack Obama is this young, and this influential, think about how much he can do with the presidency.  It took me a lot of thought to determine where I would give my support.

I watched all of the debates, and after weighing the pros and cons of each, I decided that Barack Obama is the most qualified to move past the primaries.  Once I cast my primary vote for Obama I looked at my state delegates votes.  I was disappointed to see that even though my state decided that Barack Obama will receive our delegates, there were Super Delegates from my state that decided to cast their vote for Hillary Clinton.  I was ashamed to see that Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray decided to cast their votes for Clinton.  I believe that you should follow your constituents, and represent them.  This has made it so I will not vote for Cantwell or Murray in further elections.

Obama moved on past the primaries. I watched the convention.  I watched Hillary Clinton do her best to send her supporters to Obama.  I watched Bill Clinton speak about how Barack Obama is the right man for this job.  I then watched Al Gore speak on how we need to reclaim our government.  Then Came Joe Biden, with a short speech on how McCain is not change, he’s more of the same.  Finally I watched Barack Obama take the stage.  I watched Obama give one of the most influential speeches I have ever heard.  While I had listened to this man throughout the past five years, I just could not believe how powerful this man may be.  My favorite part of the speech was when Obama addressed the war in Iraq and said that McCain won’t even follow Osama Bin laden to the cave that he lives in.  I remember chills going down my spine at this.  Finally there is a man who is addressing the way I feel.  Finally there is a politician to look up to.

After the convention there was the long road to the white house.  Barack Obama and John McCain had a little less than two months to prove themselves to the American people.   I watched with disbelief as Barack Obama actually kept his dignity throughout the entire process.  I did not feel that Barack Obama compromised his beliefs throughout the general election process.  Barack Obama wanted to run a campaign of integrity, where the issues are addressed, and normal party politics are set aside.  During a debate McCain claimed that Obama was only launching attack ads at him.  The truth was that a study after that showed Obama had run 30% attack ads that week, while McCain ran 100% attack ads.  Throughout these weeks I became scared.  I was afraid that somehow McCain would gain ground and that something would happen to reverse this.  After the 2000 election, I was sure I would continue to see corruption in elections that would cripple the democrats.  To my surprise, this did not occur.

Election Night 2008 might have been the least surprising night of my life but happiest day of my Political Science career.  After class I went home and set up election center 2008.  I broke out my laptop, turned on CNN and pulled up the CNN and ABC Electoral College maps.  I started watching at two in the afternoon.  I expected to be there until midnight.  I knew that anything could happen.  Then, at Eight o’clock western time, Barack Obama was forecasted to be the new President of the United States of America.  I sat in disbelief.  I did not believe something actually went the way it was predicted to.  Obama had been ahead in the Electoral College predictions for the past month.  While I believed it, I couldn’t understand it.  I remember hearing the quote that “America has a way of letting you down” and I just didn’t believe that Barack Obama had done it.  I stayed up all night making sure that nothing went wrong.  People were parading the streets.  There was madness just down the street from me.  I stayed home.  I made sure that nothing changed.

I listened to John McCain concede to Barack Obama.  I listened as his supporters booed I listened as the poor old man blamed himself.  I watched, and I actually felt bad for McCain.  I actually liked John McCain before he became presidential nominee.  I felt that he compromised himself when he became the nominee.  He fell into the corruption that I associated with his party.  After this I watched Barack Obama take the stage.   Watched as this great man gave the greatest speech I had ever heard.   I watched as he acknowledged the people.  Barack Obama immidiatley addressed the people who didn’t support him.  He said “I want to be your president.”  This struck me.  Obama addressed the people who threw out hateful epithets, who claimed to be afraid of him.  Barack Obama acted like a president should; he showed that he was here to represent the people.  What surprised me the most was that everything Barack Obama had talked about leading up to the election still mattered to him, even in his moment of victory.  I believe that Barack Obama will keep his promise to me.  He will fight for the American People, and he will change America so that those without a voice will be heard.  So that middle and lower class concerns will be brought forward.

The next morning I woke up and checked the news.  Obama had won.  Nothing in the election had changed.  The United States had decided that Barack Obama, a democrat from Illinois, who was also half African American, would now be the next President.  I woke up to a new world.  A world that I couldn’t believe actually existed.  I felt refreshed and renewed.  I felt like Michelle Obama, and for the first time “I was proud of my country”.  So I guess the new saying should be that “while America has its way of disappointing you, it also has a way of surprising you.”

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