Obama Says "Change Has Come to America"

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

Obama says "change has come to America"

CHICAGO (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama told cheering supporters on Tuesday "change has come to America" and called on Americans to back a spirit of unity to attack the country's pressing challenges.

Obama congratulated defeated Republican John McCain for the long, hard campaign that he fought. He called on Americans to support a "new spirit of sacrifice."

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there," he said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081105/pl_nm/us_usa_election_obama_speech

[SoCalNative]

1. Change hasn't really come to America

until gay Americans in every state and on a federal level cease to be treated as second-class citizens.

[MadMaddie]

5. One step at a time...let's get him in so he can effect change.

[TaffyMoon]

2. WOW,

he's wonderful!

[msedano]

3. Change has come to the United States.

When I was a kid, the legal voting age was 21. So I was a senior in college before I could vote. Turned 21 in 1966. My first presidential election was 1968. Gene McCarthy was my man. Had to watch riots in Chicano and Miami. Accept Nixon, re-elected on law and order & the Republican Southern Strategy that exacerbated racial divisions to solidify the GOP base. (OK, maybe things haven't changed that much in the solid GOP South. Thanx, Nixon.) In 68, Nixon drafted my ass out of grad school. You go, boy.

But you know what? Today, I sit here dumbfounded--ekpleiktonto--struck out of my wits as the Greeks used to say.

Because...

I remember my parents' bitter disappointment in the 1950s when a real estate agent phoned us the evening our bid on a house purchase had been accepted, being told the offer was rescinded because Mexicans were not allowed to live in that neighborhood. No you can't.

I remember in 4th grade, playing the violin for the Superintendent of Schools who patted my head and complimented me that I was a credit to my race. And my friends who didn't fiddle? No you can't.

I remember in 5th grade, when we finally did move and I enrolled in a white school, the first week being invited to a skate party for a girl's birthday. Wow, I was amazed that white people could rent the entire roller rink--I'd never been inside--to hold private parties. Then the girl phoned me and told me I was disinvited--Mexicans weren't allowed in the roller rink on Saturday mornings. No you can't.

I remember watching white cops using fire hoses to knock down black citizens, attack them with dogs, all because they wanted to register to vote. Schwerner. Chaney. Goodman. Evers. QEPD. No you can't.

I remember being asked in High School by curious white men and women, "what are you?" and "where is your father from? what language do you speak at home?" because I was academic and spoke good English, then denying I could possibly be Mexican. No you can't.

I remember getting all gussied up to go to fraternity rush those opening weeks of frosh year at UCSB, only to be told disdainfully by the other guys in the dorm why was I bothering, a Mexican would never be considered. And I thought college would be different. No you can't.

I remember in the Army. Soul brother GIs and chicano GIs practiced our own personal salute. Fist to heart, cross to the right shoulder, upthrust fist in a quick smooth motion, then lay down the standard issue strack trooper military salute to the right brow. Solidarity and affirmation when all around us the Army told us no you can't.

I remember television tonight telling me Barack Obama has more than 270 Electoral Votes and is the 44th President of the United States of America. Yes we can. Si se pudo.

[Bigmack]

4. Leonard Cohen song...

"Democracy is coming... to the USA.."