The Night OBAMA Won

Conviction- an unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence. It has the word action inherent within it and pure Faith, passion and inspiration. This is our President Obama for which he stands.

Chapter 1

I considered myself a prosperity thinker so when I heard others talk about how the economy was responsible for the loss of jobs, homes, and homelessness I brushed it off as an abundance snob. Surely I thought it was just a matter of their embracing a different consciousness. It would never affect me, I knew how to retrieve right brain right thinking, walk the talk of prosperity.

The next year and a half brought a serious reality check when I found myself experiencing what I was ignoring was happening around me.

I became determined to not dance with the economic crisis anymore. I started watching CNN to get informed. I rarely watched television. That is when I first heard Obama speak. I felt a stirring in my soul unlike anything I have ever felt before. I sensed that he was the spark of hope that would take me from the fulcrum of despair to embrace a whole new wonderful life once more. Little did I know at the time how involved I would become with his campaign.

My eagerness to learn more about Obama surprised me. I had not participated in any election or campaign since Al Gore. When Al Gore lost "what he really had won "sadness came over millions of us and we lost faith that the people no longer elected our president.

"Our matches were wet with the tears of our political struggles and it seemed like we could not as of yet get our fire relit for another election we had no say in. "

Then Obama emerged with a clear message that inspired hope to guide us through these scary times. The message was for every man, woman and child in America to tend to their own fire within.

"Yes we can "was Obama way of letting us know he was ready to provide us with matches to light this fire if we trusted in him. I asked myself, could it be possible this time that we the people of the United States could unite to elect whom "we" wanted as our president?

The answers came fast and fierce. With the brilliant campaign strategy of a massive, intense internet campaign coupled with a man of truth and vision yes it was possible. "Yes We Can" became the voice of the people.

In time I came to understand that he was the turning point part that marked the era of a massive global consciousness change. History books will tell the tale of the man who emerged to catapult the world to greater peace and unity.

This is a true story of how I listened to my heart, contributed to President Obama’s election and how I jumped off the economic crises hamster wheel.

The night of the election I watched CNN on my computer for every point to insure he was winning. It was almost as every point he gained was a heartbeat pounding in my chest. He had touched my soul and I felt needed .One more state, just one more state. Oh God thank you please let him win the presidency.

Months before I found myself like the little drummer boy offering all I could in writing blogs on his behalf online. I had never done this before but I was inspired. I sent the little money I had to help him; I did my share along with millions of Americans. Everyone I spoke to was doing their share. This was more than just a presidency. This was the American people speaking out "We are the people, and he is for the people and we will do everything we can to make sure he wins for us and our children, and children’s children. We are taking our country back and placing it in the hands of this great man OBAMA. We will fight tooth and nail because we trust him.

We trusted that the umbilical cord would be severed from a government that ruled the people and now became for the people once more. Our voices loud and clear said" We are the United States of America, a people united to survive and thrive. Obama is our leader."

Some of us went online; some of us with no political background became instant experts and joined the Democratic Party system caucuses. And our children with music and computer skills hit the internet day and night. Videos, YouTube, Oprah, Whoopie and others on television, songs of grace, race and a whole mess of people fighting for what and whom we believed in, OBAMA.
.. And we sent emails, made phone calls, postcards and poured our hearts out to all who would listen.

For me, I protected him online like a mother cat protects her young. I was fierce and kind and battled head on with anyone who would stand between him and the presidency. It was not easy learning my way around CNN but, I did it.

Guided by conviction I created online names on CNN to express my feelings and truths. When a comment related to Latinos and OBAMA came up, there I was, I became Latina N Proud battling like our forefathers only this time it was online. When his patriotism was questioned I became Latina Patriot N proud. Every step, every moment became a moment to take action on OBAMA’S behalf. We believed and still do that Obama could improve the decaying American education system, health care systems and restore the dignity of the people of our nation.

It felt as if we were patriots, rebels in the American Revolution against England. This was our battle at Bunker Hill and the English were now the republicans.

The night he won I screamed from my ghetto balcony" OBAMA, OBAMA won." People flocked out onto their balconies. Latinos, Nigerians drinking in celebration, Cubans, we all came out and felt a hope we had not felt before. I remember printing pictures of his victory and handing them to my Nigerian
neighbors. They clutched the picture to their hearts and kissed the picture of OBAMA. It felt like the celebration of the birth of a child. A new era in understanding and change had begun.
Immediately after he was elected I beamed with pride at his cabinet selections. Outmoded boundaries between the Democratic Party and Republican Party that were created during the American Revolution to protect us that now only held us prisoner to a system that no longer produced the urgent results to save our country were crossed and we united in a common song.

Every single brilliant capable democrat, republican was vetted and scanned for his or her post. What a line up. People changers, our country‘s best of the best from either party. I felt that each and every one appointed was a reincarnation of a founding father who risked their life to write our "declaration of independence."YES WE CAN became a new declaration of the people.

Against all odds Abraham Lincoln enacted The Emancipation Proclamation and later the thirteenth amendment. Like Lincoln, Obama too is a visionary. But, it took decades of hardship before humanity was ready to break the racial barriers which allowed the election of Obama as our President.
Today, Jan 18, 2009 at President Obama’s inauguration celebration, history was in the making, the barriers were broken big time.
In honor of his election he was showered with love.
From every station, the nation performed on his behalf in gratitude of our new President. Yo Yo Ma, Beyonce, James Taylor, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Queen Latifah, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen. Sheryl Crow, Stevie Wonder, poets, movie stars and so many more.
When U2, an Irish band, played you could feel the love flow from their music for our president. What is this? I asked myself. An Irish band celebrating the Presidency of the United States?

That is when I felt that the world was celebrating with us and becoming united to the United States. Really, in my 56 years this was the first time I experienced a nation declare their love so openly for a president.

An impressive and eloquent writer of our time from the RAW POLITICS JAMAICA STYLES WEBLOG WROTE THESE BEAUTIFUL WORDS on January 19th, 2009:
We had come ‘from slavery to the Presidency!’
History was unfolding and even while, my silent tears did not mean much in the actual writing of this chapter, told to us through the ‘immediacy’ and global reach of the CNN and BBC news media, I had witnessed it all the same. Moved by its power and the audacity of the kind of hope that had propelled President Obama to such an important moment, I was awestruck and overwhelmed all at once. Words seemed so inadequate in giving vent to my emotions that all I could do was cry, like a small child, humbled by history’s power to self correct. I watched in
complete amazement, praying all the time, fervent in my hope for this great man on whose shoulders rested so many of the world’s ills.

With seriousness etched on his face, Barack Obama was preparing to not only take the Oath, he was preparing to lead the world and we, his throng of supporters removed by heritage, culture, nationality, language, time and even technology were all caught up in the power of the emotion. And, so I cried.

Pausing momentarily to gather myself and focus, I decided that more than anything else, my return to this blog would be marked by the momentous inauguration of President Barack Obama to the US Presidency. It symbolized a kind of achievement which allowed me to think that, notwithstanding my own personal concerns, all things were possible and that, because of that possibility we/ I could make it.

The potency of his acceptance speech and the focus on the Civil Rights Movement and the American War for Independence, as well as the Global War on Terror only served to reinforce that pride – that deep and unmistakable joy. Hope renewed and sagging spirits refreshed, the powerful words had instilled in all of us the charge, not only to Americans, to proclaim the victory in all parts of the lands in which we lived. All were joined together. The cause was universal. We were all were soldiers in the great hope of transformation.

How would it all pan out? We were not sure…yet! But one thing was certain, in this moment we were all one…And we most, certainly, could!
After all, out of many, we are one! Yes we can! Yes we did!
January 19th, 2009Raw Politics Jamaica Style
This is how millions of us were feeling and still are. The next few months were an eye opener for me about how I was living my life after his election.