It's probably a good thing I'm not home right now, because I'd just run around spending all my money on newspapers from the day after Election Day.With the time difference, I was eagerly anticipating the election results around lunchtime on Wednesday last week. When I saw the results pop up on CNN.com and MSNBC.com, I was jubilant. My eyes filled with tears. I excitedly
updated some nearby co-workers, who were surprised but serene. But like all the Americans celebrating in the streets back home, I wanted to yell and hug everyone and jump for joy. In my afternoon classes, I happily told my students the news and many of them responded with the slogan they've heard so often on the TV news — Yes We Can!I felt emotional the rest of the day. Between classes I was glued to the
Internet, reading the results and trying not to cry. I just felt — I still feel — so proud of my country and so optimistic for the future. It feels so good to know America will get a leader who appeals to the best in us. Someone who respects us. Someone with vision. It's uplifting.A black president. It's something I doubted I'd see in my lifetime. Yet it's something that even
my 93-year-old grandmother lived to see. My grandmother. Now I'm sure she never thought she'd see the day a black man was elected president — or the day she'd vote for a black guy for president. It's amazing.Yesterday I visited the Newseum online archive for Nov. 5 and checked out all the headlines post-Election Day. Seeing all these front pages, I still feel tears well up. I look at them and I still can't believe it. Wow!
Probably one of my favorite front pages from Nov. 5 came out of Sioux City, Iowa.
Believe It. What a perfect headline. Even though the polls showed Obama way ahead, I think when we all finally saw the headlines trumpet his victory, we just had to say, "I can't believe it." Well, believe it, America.
Yes we can.
