NPR is right now replaying Barack Obama's victory speech from last night:
But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do.
I count myself as a cynic, although being equally cynical about my own predictive powers I don't presume to say what will or won't happen in a close election. But certainly I was as aware as anyone who is not a starry-eyed Obama supporter of the barrier that Senator Obama faced in attempting to win an electorate that is 93% white, 2.5% black, and largely rural.
But last night Barack Obama won a decisive victory in that state, and another 30% of the vote went to the first serious female candidate for the Presidency. Whatever happens from here on out, inclusivity in America won big last night.
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Ever since the Clinton administration we've seen a rise in political involvement at the highest levels by blacks and women. Whatever his faults (they are manifest, of course) this trend was continued by George W. Bush to some degree. And now the Democratic primary field presents us a group who begin to look at awful lot more like America than, say, a Elk's Club meeting.
And this field has been tested in what one would imagine would be one of the harsher environments -- and all white, rural state. The results: America is ready to accept a black man, an immigrant's son, even a woman as President. And rather than fight for a 51% victory, these candidates are bringing independent voters home to the Democratic Party.
In a way, I hope the election really is over before New York votes because I increasingly don't want to be put in the position of having to choose between Clinton and Obama, two historic and (in my opinion) excellent candidates. As a father of two young daughters I'm very mindful of the shift that would occur in their outlook growing up with a woman President of the United States. As a public school parent in a school with 5% Caucasian registration I know that a black man attaining that office would affect the lives and perceptions of tens of millions of Americans. And as a frequent traveler, I'm aware of how the election of a man of first generation African descent would change the view the world holds of us.
The past seven years have not given me many opportunities for national pride.
Today, I am proud to be an American.