Barack Beat the Odds

I can’t say I was as choked up on Election Night as Jesse Jackson (shown above) but I have witnessed an historic black moment to tell my future kids and grandchildren.

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, the United States elected its first black president, Barack Obama (shown above). In an election campaign that took what seemed like an eternity to conclude, Obama defeated republican nominee John McCain, 364-163, in the Electoral College to become the 44th president of the United States. Obama also took the popular vote 65,293,083 (53 percent) to McCain’s 57,325,487 (46 percent).

Karl Rove was predicting a landslide victory for Obama a couple days before the election and the election mastermind hit the bull’s-eye. I can’t say he was alone with this thought because I didn’t see a way McCain could pull out a victory since he was trailing in the pre-election polls in most of the big states. In fact, Obama defeated McCain in five of the six big states (California, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York). The only big state McCain won was Texas.

The results sent shockwaves all over the world. Individuals were glued to television sets. Cell phones buzzed with text and picture messages. Newspapers sold out the next morning. Everyone wanted a piece of history. I have my commemorative copy of my local newspaper for Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008. It will go in a zip lock bag for safe keeping.

I didn’t have to work on Election Day so I decided to vote in the morning and then watch the results with friends later that evening. I started my night at a sports bar and watched Obama’s sweep of the Northeast states. Later that night, I went to a fire-hazard packed club to watch the results from the Mountain and Pacific Time zone states. When CNN called California, Oregon and Washington in one swoop, Obama had secured more than the 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. The pro-Obama crowd erupted in cheers. Guys gave each other fist pounds. Women looked for the nearest guy to hug. Some lucky guys even got kisses from the lovely women. I’m willing to bet there were a few black babies conceived that night. What do you think the chances are that “Barrack” will be the next popular name for black boys in the next decade?

Barack doesn’t quite go with my last name…so that’s probably out. However, Obama could work with my last name…so that’s tentatively in. Since, I’m still years away from having kids I’ll leave that name debate for another day. For now, there is only one thing left to do. That’s make an appearance in Washington, D.C. for inauguration weekend. See you there.