At last about Obama

Here it is almost February, and somehow I haven't mentioned Barrack Obama. You might think that even in my infrequent entries, that his name would have come up. Obama has had and will continue to have a tremendous effect on our country and the world. As a vehicle for change and a realization of what our society is, his impact is on a par with WWII and Jackie Robinson. WWII ripped open America, ending isolation and indifference to different regions of the country. Without Jackie, the first Afro-American to play major league baseball in the modern era, would any of the subsequent changes have been possible? Of course, if hadn't been Mr. Robinson no doubt it would have been another Afro-American.

I was well aware of Mr. Obama. At the time he ran for the Senate I was in Minnesota. My brother-in-law, Dr. David Gill ran for Congress from a heavily Republican district in southern Illinois. He lost twice. And the incumbent, Tim Johnson, even handily survived the Republican repudiation of 2008. Obama had met David. And we were impressed with that. And even more impressed and awed that he remembered David, from one meeting to the next.

In '04, I wished that Hillary would have come forward and made a run for president. There was no doubt in my mind that she would have been easily nominated, and then "cleaned Bush's clock!" Leading up to '08 and into the campaign, I kept repeating that like it was some kind of mantra. And for Hillary that is how it turned out. She would have, but didn't come forward and time passed her by. 2008 just wasn't Hillary's time. But it was Obama's. And he was someone who I could wholeheartedly support. Throughout September and October my fingers were crossed. He didn't seem to have a big enough lead in the polls to overcome the Bradley effect. In order to win he needed to be at least 10 points up in the polls. As the campaign slipped into November, it seemed that maybe he would be elected.

In the days leading up to the election a joke came to me. It was a very mild joke, seemly innocuous . But it was a stereotypical one. It didn't seem quite right to me, and then the next day it was completely wrong. My 8 year old daughter called me election night. Unfortunately due to the unfairness of our divorce and custody laws we have very little contact. She was very excited. "Daddy!" she exclaimed, "we have a new president and he's afro-american!" The next day the realization began to form in my mind that Obama's victory was more of an affirmation of our values then anything else. It didn't matter that he was Afro-American, but that this very smart and capable relatively young person had the courage to try and lead this country at this time of economic crisis and find an end to the war in Iraq. For the first time in a long time, about 45 years, I was proud to be an American. Proud of our values and our society.

In the next 2 months Bush became increasingly irrelevant. It must have been like 1933, when the country waited for Hoover to leave office, so Roosevelt could begin the work of ending the depression.

Inauguration day seemed like a holiday, a day of celebration. Here in Juneau, people gathered in Centennial Hall to watch the events on a giant screen TV. My daughter's second grade class came for the event. Each time the signal was lost, I held my breath. Hoping that we would not come back to a scene of an assassinated president. We didn't, the celebrations went on, and once again I took a breath.

I came of age in the '60s. I remember the assassination of John Kennedy, Vietnam, the chaos, the events of '68, and the aftermath over the following decades. I am glad to be alive at this time and that I live in America. I am happy for my daughter that she is living thorough this time. And am confident that the renewal of our spirt that seemed to happen overnight is real and will be long lasting!

Oh, some readers, may be wondering just what the joke was from election day. So mild and yet in a blink irrelevant. Finally we have a president who can dance, dress and play basketball. The reality is that once again after 8 horrible years we have a president who can think, reason and lead.