A friend called Weds. November 5^th and yelled into the phone, “WE WON!” Oprah Winfrey was sporting a t-shirt the day after the election that read, “Hope Won.” For once the right man and the best man won. Election night was scary, I wanted to rejoice but I felt like I couldn’t breathe until they called the election at 11pm. Now I just feel joy and relief that it’s over and for once I’m on the winning side.

Election Day felt like Christmas as a child, the day stretched out endlessly and I felt restless and jumpy. After voting and working in the morning, I headed to the Nichol Town Community Center to volunteer for the Obama campaign. It was the best thing I could have done. I went canvassing door to door in an older neighborhood behind E. North Street. I had never been in this area before so I spent a lot of time driving around slowly and scouting out the houses I needed to visit. When I knocked on doors, residents would frequently shout out, “Who’s there?” or “What do you want?” When I responded that I was with the Obama campaign, doors flew open and smiles appeared. Black folks, who would normally be suspicious about a middle aged white woman in their neighborhood, were happy to see me. Almost all of the folks I visited had voted, many for the first time. A few were heading out to vote or had been to the polls and returned because the lines were too long. Tiny tots were asking their mothers about Obama and voting when I said goodbye and closed the door. I can’t really explain how wonderful it was to feel that shared camaraderie among strangers. Two young black men called me over to ask about a returned voter registration card. When the man produced the card, I explained that he had failed to fill out all the spaces and it was a quick and easy fix. He told me he was illiterate and couldn’t read the form. He asked if I could mail it for him and I said sure, then you can vote in the next election. That was powerful for me. People on the margins that felt shut out by the political system were engaged for the very first time. Support for Obama crossed the racial and the generational divide. I think older folks may have been more excited about his candidacy than the younger set simply because they know how far we have all come to get to this day. When I completed my duties, I returned to Obama headquarters and hugged everyone in the room. I felt sheer joy and so much hope I felt drunk.

It took a special person to make this happen, not only to win the presidential election but to excite the electorate. For years I’ve been frustrated by wide spread apathy when it comes to politics and elections. Now in this dark time, people finally understand that their votes matter, that it really does make a difference what political party and what individuals run our country. After years of benign neglect the garden of politics is being tended again by the regular folks. People are finally paying attention and taking action.

The weirdest thing about this election is that my joy and satisfaction over the election of Barack Obama has helped me forgive President Bush and his administration for all the mistakes he made and the utter disaster he leaves in his wake. That’s over now, and better days lie ahead. I’m so ready to move on and work together to heal our country and our economy.