I can only hope that people have not become so jaded in 3 years that we forgot what this night felt like.
Maybe politics are all a big elaborate song and dance, made to fool us all and make us feel like we have a say in things. We will really never know what is happening behind the curtain.
But I will never forget how I felt that night. This cloud of hopelessness and apathy was lifted. I hadn’t realized it had even been there because the last 8 years of my adult life had been accepting that our president was a moron and feeling a sense of embarrassment on behalf of my country and our leaders. In 8 years I watched the towers fall and men sent off to die in a war that is still being dragged on. I believed the government could fool the public into agreeing with whatever they wanted them to, and it felt pointless to even care. But that night, for the first time in my life, I felt my heart swell up with hope. Hope for this country I live in. Or maybe not even just for the US, but hope that things can change. And I almost felt apologetic that I had become so jaded and pessimistic. There is hope. Change can happen.
I sat on the edge of my room mate’s bed watching her TV in Portland that night, crying and hugging my boyfriend. We could already hear cheers and fireworks ringing through the city. After watching Obama’s acceptance speech, we hopped in the car and headed to the other side of the city, along the way seeing people cheering and celebrating in a way I have never seen. Balloons, confetti, american flags, fireworks everywhere. Everybody of all ages, color- raising flags, singing, cheering, hugging, crying. I had never seen such patriotism and it felt so good. It felt good to be a part of it. And for the first time in my life, I thought “Things are gonna get better. They CAN get better. The bad days are over”.
Whether things have vastly improved since then or not, it still felt so good to feel that sense and honestly believe it. I don’t ever want to forget that.
I am so grateful to Obama for making me feel that. And to this day, when I see him take the podium to address our country, I still feel that sense of pride that this is the man who represents us. After 8 years of a bumbling doofus with a vacant stare and a stupid laugh, it feels good to turn on the tv and see a poised, well-spoken, humble man looking back into the camera with a calming sense of assurance.
