Bending the Arc of History with Number 44

We have just witnessed a new era in history today. The American people just elected its 44th President - its first black president. Just 4 years ago, nobody even heard of this Senator from Illinois. Obama won this election because the American people is tired that the economy is in disarray, he won on the merits of his platform - change. He won because of his perceived ability to lead and inspire confidence in Americans who desperately needed someone fresh after a catastrophic 8-year reign of the worst president in the United States of America, eight years with Hurricane George W. Bush is too much and this decided the election long before it even started. I pity John McCain because he tried so hard to disassociate himself from the Bush legacy but the effort was futile. Obama’s overwhelming win with 334 electoral votes also came with Democratic gains in the Senate and House. I, for one, is very disappointed with George and wanted change. That change just happened to be Barack Obama. He won because Mccain is too old and he might die in office. I think Sarah Palin certainly helped him in more ways than it helped McCain. In the end, the voters favored change over experience.
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Obama knew what he is getting into. The staggering list of problems he inherits - two wars and "the worst financial crisis in a century." He said, "We may not get there in one year or even in one term, but, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we, as a people will get there."

See and Hear Obama's Speech -> here

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With the first black president elected, I am compelled to write Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a Dream" speech delivered on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

"And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

"I have a dream today!

"I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" – one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

"I have a dream today!

"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; ‘and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.’

"This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

"With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

"And this will be the day – this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

"My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

"Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

"From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

"And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

"And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

"Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

"Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

"Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

"Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

"But not only that:

"Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

"Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

"Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

"From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

"And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

"Free at last! Free at last!

"Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"