When Al Gore "lost" the election in 2000, I became awakened to the political process of the United States. I was a great admirer of Bill Clinton's presidency and I was very angry when the presidency was taken away from Al Gore who I thought was the rightful winner. The fiasco of the Florida recount has been fresh in my mind for 8 years now. And no....I just can't let it go. I believe in what is right and what is fair and we all know that what happened in 2000 was neither. The only solace I found in that entire debacle was that Hillary Clinton was elected as a Senator representing New York, and that thought alone really helped me swallow the bitter pill of George Bush being the president.
I continued to follow politics very closely and became knowledgeable of all the issues America was facing, from the Iraq war, Terri Shiavo and Katrina. I felt like the lone voice calling out in the wilderness when "Shock and Awe" was about to go down. I was depressed. More so, because I could do nothing about it. I was not yet a permanent resident or a Citizen of the US so I couldn't contribute to any election campaigns or volunteer even though I wanted to. I was making a substantial income but I couldn't do with it the one thing I wanted to do most which was support progressive democrats. I spent all my time reading Daily Kos and all the other blogs on the blogroll and spent the other part of my time screaming at the T.V and throwing temper tantrums. I prided myself on being one of the most informed non-citizens in America. I educated all my citizen friends of all the latest shenanigans going on in Washington D.C and the media. I became the to go to person for all my friends, family and neighbors when it came to politics in the US. All of this without being able to cast a single vote. I felt helpless, but I was diligently counting down the years when my permanent residency would finally come.
Once I became a resident in 200? I now put my money where my mouth was. I contributed the maximum financial amount of money I could to all the folks on the Act Blue page and volunteered for John Kerry's presidential run. Heck, I even flew on my own dime to FL from GA a week before the election to canvas and knock on doors and get voters to the polls and I couldn't even vote. I was taking my civic responsibility very seriously even though I couldn't even vote for the person I was supporting with all my strength. We all know what happened there....I was devastated yet again. But the only thing that got me through was...Hillary Clinton.
There was a sense that she would be running in 2008 and I knew that I would finally be a citizen then and I could actually vote for the first time. It was going to be Hillary Clinton. After all, she had successfully pulled me through two devastations in the past. I filed for citizenship because of Hillary on the hour I became eligible to file. I was so excited and ready to roll........and then things went suddenly and terribly wrong.
John Edwards started talking about poverty issues and it struck me to the core. Being financially and economically stable doesn't absolve anyone of their collective conscience to lift up the whole nation to do better too. In fact it's my opinion that it having a conscience is a character requirement for any Democrat period. We actually give a damn. I started resonating with what he was saying and it made sense to me. As the campaign went on, and as I listened more to what Edwards was saying, I couldn't even recognize my hero Hillary's voice anymore. She wasn't sounding like the person I wanted to cast my first vote for. I was listening to what she was saying, but I wasn't hearing her. I resisted for a while but then switched allegiance to Edwards with a bit of a broken heart. When that didn't work out, I went back to the drawing board again. I was now ready to do what I had been waiting to do for 8 years and vote for Hillary.
I wondered onto the Obama website out of curiosity. I have never been an Obama fan. He's tussled with us one too many times here on Dailykos and I've tuned him out ever since. I don't even know why I went to that website. Then I started listening to all of his speeches and something in me began to stir. The more I listened to him the more I was moved, sometimes to tears. I listened to every single one of them. Unbelievable.
I am Barack Obama. I'm of woman of African descent that came to America in pursuit of the American dream and I've been successful so far. I've been educated in different countries and gotten a few post graduate degrees just like him. I have a funny sounding name...just like him. I am the embodiment of the very Audacity of Hope that he is talking about. When I see Obama, I see myself. The tears that run down my face when I see Obama on my T.V is not because I'm part of the Obama cult(I do have a few bones to pick with him on a whole host of issues), it's because he is absolutely right..the very fact that I am here is an audacity in itself.
The irony of it all is that I won't be able to cast the vote for either Hillary or Obama. My application is part of the INS Backlog Debacle. 2012 maybe? But for the love of God, I want the primaries to end soon no matter what the outcome is. It breaks my heart to see all the infighting and mathematical gymnastics being played. In my humble opinion, folks should be glad they get to vote at all... Jeebus, can't we all just get along?