“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.” President Barack Obama
I woke up this morning in a country transformed. I woke up this morning, truly an American for the first time in my life. What happened last night, what WE, together as a nation of “young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled” did last night will stay with me forever.
I will tell my children and my grandchildren about the night that America lived up to its ideals, a night when the world’s eyes were upon us and we looked straight back at them and, with unyielding conviction said, “YES WE CAN.”
Last night, America recognized a cause bigger than itself and answered the call.
If this campaign is any indication of the power, the hope and the change this country has been thirsting for for 8 years, we have a LOT of work to do. But we will “roll up our sleeves” alongside a leader who has and will continue to inspire us beyond our own expectations.
Suddenly, the impossible is possible. The unlikeliest story has unfolded before our eyes. America, in one fell swoop, has redeemed itself to the world. The democracy that was turned into a nightclub burlesque on the global stage has turned itself inside out and granted itself an opportunity for the “new dawn of American leadership.”
We have found ourselves, quite intentionally, on the right side of history.
For everyone who was a skeptic, who thought America wasn’t ready, all those whose mantra remained “I’ll believe it when I see it,” I have only this to say:
OPEN YOUR EYES.
