Election 2008

8 Reasons I'm Thankful #1

I've followed politics for a long time, but it was during the George W. Bush years that I, like so many others, began to follow them more closely. I watched with horror as the will of the people was subverted by the Supreme Court in 2000. I watched a cowardly President allow himself to be flown all over the country following the attacks on 9/11. I watched the same President and his minions drum up a phony war against Iraq in retaliation for 9/11. I watched them claim victory in this war while soldiers were still dying every day. I watched this President and his government abandon every principal for which this country has ever stood. I was particularly appalled by the support for torture. I watched as this President and his people turned a war hero into a coward in the 2004 election. I watched this President do nothing as our economy crumbled around us. I watched as this President was aided and abetted, time and time again, by a compliant Congress, more often than not, led by his own party. I watched in disbelief, horror and anger.

A glimpse of hope? In 2004, I watched a man give a speech at the Democratic National Convention. I told anyone who would listen that this man would be our President.

The first glimmer of hope came in 2006 when the American people finally started paying attention. I watched this President's approval ratings plummet. I watched the American people throw his party out of power in both houses of Congress. It was a start, but it was not enough.

Early in the 2008 campaign, I was a proud John Edwards supporter. When he dropped out, I watched the two most exciting candidates our party has ever fielded battle it out for the nomination. I couldn't respect Hillary Clinton more. She would have made an excellent President.

I then watched Barack Obama run the most compelling Presidential campaign of the modern era. I watched as he brought millions of young people into the political process for the first time. I watched him raise millions upon millions of dollars from small dollar donors. I watched him talk, in speech after speech, about all that was great about America, about all that was right about America, and about what America can still be. I watched as he and his followers replaced our pessimism with hope.

On election night, I watched as my party solidified its majority in the House. I saw them bring the lead in the Senate to a near filibuster proof majority. I watched the man I saw at the 2004 convention walk out on a stage in Chicago, with his wife and his beautiful young daughters, as the President-Elect of the United States.

I watched the American people take their country back from the conservatives who had run it into the ground. Despite the ongoing war, and the financial crisis, we can look at our future with optimism. That is something for which we can all be thankful.