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This Week at I Want Change
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I've BEEN Wanting Change!
I haven't done an issue of IWantChange.org in
nearly a year! I've just been so crazy doing this
album, I haven't had time to do both. Unfortunate
timing for me, because as I took this year off of
IWantChange.org**. "Change" freakin blew up! I
feel like it was plucked right out of my brain. Of
course, we move amongst each other in so many
unknown ways, perhaps it was.
Anyway, I remember writing about Obama in '04(you
can read it HERE).
I, like so many of us, saw his
speech at the DNC and fell in love. Back then, his
presidency seemed only a whimsical fantasy. One of
those "Ohhhh, it'd be so nice if..." To now sit
here a short 4 years later and see it becoming a
reality is truly amazing.
For the first time in a long time I feel proud of
America. I feel (and also feel a little
manipulated by) hope! Hopeful of a new milestone,
of healing. Hope that we just might have a smart
person back in the drivers seat again. Hopeful
that he remains genuine. Hopeful that after
Tuesday, when the Change broohaha has died down,
we still strive for it.
It's a long road to not only repairing, but
moving our country forward, and it merely BEGINS
with changing who's in the White House. I'm
hopeful that in the coming years we'll take a hard
look at our selves and be honest with what we
find. For once we win this election(I'm
manifesting!), we need to look inward and address
our consumer culture, our disposable mentality.
We need to examine how we take in information. We
need to become critical thinkers again.
I'm hopeful of the tide of people that got up and
stood behind Obama. As with all leaders, Obama's
just another guy without our numbers. Not only
did we do this, but we can ALWAYS do this. The
power has always been ours to hold. I'm hopeful
that we remember this power, and use to it to
fight for a more just and balanced world - ALWAYS.
**for those of you that don't know,
iwantchange.org is a web magazine my mom and I
started in '04, long before change became Obama's
slogan
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WE DID IT!! I WANT CHANGE SINCE
Barack Obama’s meteoric rise from little-known
state lawmaker to the nation’s first black
president became complete last night as he rolled
over GOP Sen. John McCain and pledged to usher in
“the hope of a better day” for America.
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts
that anything is possible . . . who questions the
power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,”
Obama said in a stirring acceptance speech before
70,000 revelers crammed into Chicago’s Grant Park
last night. “Change has come to America.”
With the crowd chanting “Yes we can!” Obama vowed
to tackle the nation’s broken economy, fight off
global threats and support soldiers in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
“The road ahead will be long. The climb will be
steep. But America, I have never been more hopeful
that we will get there,” Obama said.
McCain graciously conceded defeat around 11:30
p.m. in an impassioned speech in which he
recognized the historical significance of Obama’s
election, wished the Democrat “godspeed” and vowed
to work with him in Washington.
“Senator Obama has achieved a great thing. I
applaud him,” McCain said. “These are difficult
times . . . I pledge tonight to do everything I
can to help him.”
President Bush called and congratulated Obama on
his “awesome night,” according to White House
spokeswoman Dana Perino.
“I promise to make this a smooth transition. You
are about to go on one of the great journeys of
life. Congratulations and go enjoy yourself,” Bush
told Obama, according to Perino.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a friend and ardent backer
of Obama, said: “Americans spoke loud and clear
and demanded change by electing Barack Obama as
our next president. They understood his vision of
a fairer and more just America and embraced it.”
Obama, a 47-year-old Harvard Law School grad, won
in an electoral college landslide and decisive
popular vote, besting McCain in several key
battleground states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania
and Virginia. He also swept the New England
states, including a strong win in Massachusetts.
“What a wonderful and long overdue night for
America,” Sen. John F. Kerry said at an Obama
party at Boston’s Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel last
night. “I have the latest exit polls - Bush is
exiting, Cheney is exiting and Barack Obama is
entering the White House.”
Obama’s impressive victory marked the end of one
of America’s most grueling and polarizing races
for the White House. The roller coaster journey
included bitter primary races on both sides, two
momentous political conventions and vicious smear
tactics that targeted everything from McCain’s age
and health to Obama’s ties to a race-baiting pastor.
While Obama celebrated with 70,000 jubilant
revelers in Chicago, voters in Boston weighed in
on his historic rise to power and cited the
nation’s fiscal fiasco and war as reasons for the
Illinois senator’s win.
“I’ve been voting all my life. Today is history,”
said James Charvis, a 78-year-old black voter from
Dorchester. “And it’s about time.”
“We need a damn change,” added Lorena Gorski, 58,
of the South End. “We are billions in debt, we are
in two wars, the rest of the world hates us, so it
is time for a change.”
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