Today in Florida, President Obama walked over to a woman who was asking for help and showed a level of compassion that touched the hearts of many who witnessed it. There were tears of awe, smiles and many silent statements of love and joy. I saw a great and compassionate leader.
I was two years old when President Kennedy was assassinated; I have no memory of the nation mourning his passing, or of the depth of the love that the nation felt for him. My memories of President Johnson were only that he kind of reminded me of John Wayne.
When I was in junior high I was required to sit in a history class and watch the Watergate hearings. My father was in Vietnam. I thought Nixon was ugly and mean. When Gerald Ford came along I didn’t think that he should have pardoned Nixon and I thought he was there to just hold the spot until a real president came along.
When I turned 18 one of the biggest thrills for me, besides being able to legally drink was that I could vote and the first vote I cast for a president, was for President Jimmy Carter, I wasn’t political savvy but I just liked him. I liked the way he could walk into a crowd and make everyone feel like he was just a regular guy who wanted to do a good job for America.
When President Reagan was elected I was sorely disappointed. I thought that America had lost its collective mind. I saw the country heading down a path of conservatism that would be paved with an ideology that would benefit only the privileged few. And I hated his haircut. When President Bush was elected I kind of thought about him in the same way I thought about President Ford, plus he resembled Mr. Rogers.
I was politically involved when President Clinton was elected but I wished that he and Gore could have switched places. I really liked President Clinton, but I always had the feeling that there was a bad boy lurking behind his Aw Shucks demeanor, maybe that’s why so many women in America, swooned over him.
When George W. Bush became president I was seriously considering moving to another country and when he was reelected I literally felt a wave of nausea. I remember feeling frightened for my children and my grand children and some discussion was made about a parcel of land in another country.
One day I received a phone call from one of my daughters, she suggested I watch a You Tube clip about a man named Obama, funny name I thought, who had just announced his intentions to run for the Presidency of the United States. I watched that clip and for the first time, I felt that I might be blessed and experience what it would be like to know, admire and to love the President of my country in my lifetime.
And then I was off and running, my children volunteered at their local Obama offices, I ended up becoming a state delegate for Obama. And we all had the privilege of seeing him in person. For those who haven’t, his presence is even larger and his voice more powerful in person.
I realized that I had been waiting, hoping and praying for a great leader to emerge in America, in my lifetime. I wanted that for me, for my children, my grandchildren and for my country. I love and respect my President.
I never thought I would live to see the day that I could write those words. And today I saw more reasons why I love my President. I am truly blessed.
I don’t mind growing old in a world with Obama.