Tonight, we all had the fortune to witness one of America's greatest presidential candidates deliver one of America's finest speeches. It was stirring, moving, uplifting, and filled me with a kind of hope for the future of this nation that I've never felt in my young life.
He detailed a vision for the the future that makes me want to get out there and stand in line to vote tonight. He even hit McCain, harder than he ever has, beating the old man to the point where I don't see how any rational human being can even consider voting for him at this point.
What separated this speech from all his others in my mind, though, is what my staunch conservative father had to say after Obama wrapped it all up.
Just to put this into context, my father is an ethnic Armenian immigrant who came to this country after escaping from the rule of Saddam and being oppressed by the largely Muslim population for his Christian faith.
He has a 4th grade education, came to America with no money in his pocket, and today he is an independent business owner. Up until recently, he had supported Bush and his backwards foreign policies if for no other reason than to see Saddam Hussein removed from power and hanged for the crimes against his people.
He's always been cynical of this country's political system though, and has never exercised his right as a citizen to vote. Not once. Things seemed different this year though, and he has seen his business struggling and our house's mortgage rising as a result of Bush's economic policies, and as the liberal voice in our household, I've spent many nights over the dinner table trying to sway him to reject Bush and the devious Repugnant party.
I've cajoled him into watching a few of Obama's speeches, compared and contrasted his policies to McCain's in exhausting detail, and when Super Tuesday came around, somehow convinced my 60 year old conservative father to vote for Barack Obama when he cast a ballot for the first time in his life.
It turns out that when he had registered to vote so many years ago, though, he had been registered as a Republican, and could not vote in the Democratic primary. He says he doesn't remember ever joining a party... but I was so proud that he came to the polling place with me, anyway.
Why am I telling you all this?
Well, my father shared a sentiment with me that I hate to admit that I held until today, too. That day, when he came with me to the polling place, he said, "I'll vote for him... but there's no way he's going to win."
He said America wouldn't elect a black man as president of the United States. I wanted to think better of this country, but I've seen enough racism and bigotry in my lifetime to still harbor doubts. When I saw Obama speak, I saw a man that was eloquent, intelligent, wise, capable. Then I remembered that Al Gore was those things, too. So was John Kerry. We had elected George W. Bush. Twice. We get the leaders we deserve, don't we? But Obama is different. He moves people in ways that the past two presidential candidates couldn't. I felt shame as I'd think, "If only he was white..."
Tonight, those thoughts have been crushed. As Barack waved in gratitude to his ecstatic audience after accepting the nomination of a major political party, and I released the breath I had been holding with a smile on my face, I turned to my father.
He pursed his lips and nodded his head slowly, like he usually does when he's come to some sort of firm decision.
"I think he's gonna make it."