The Shepherd Nook - Obama won...what is next?

By Norma I have asked myself this question many times before, even when Obama was not yet elected. I thought about how foolish it would be if Obama did not win simply because of the poor choice of candidates on the GOP ticket. I mean, common sense should have led one to vote for Obama ( I won't go into the faults of McCain and Palin). I'm not saying that Obama and Biden are perfect, but they did have a pretty solid, very successful campaign in stark contrast to their opponents.

But, yes, racism is still alive and according to an article I recently read, it's time of remission is over (the writer likened racisim to cancer), a series of hate crimes that I haven't seen on television have been reported throughout America since November 5th. Please correct me if I am wrong, but there hasn't been much TV news coverage on it, if any. Anyway, this is besides the point, the fact that Obama won to me is supposed to be some sort of an accomplishment to the American people as a whole, not just people of color, because it shows that America is not the same country it was fifty years ago, yet I am still not fully convinced. If George W. Bush had been a favorable president in the eyes of the American people, Obama, in my opinion, would not have won this election. It took a disasterous president and all the problems that followed as a result, for the American people to realize that they need a change. Surely this was not realized in the 2004 election. The timing was perfect for Obama and it is great that he won, but he is just a man. He is going to face a whole lot of problems and the sad part about it is that his most important problem will be trying to keep himself alive because he has already received more death threats than any other president elect, by his own "countrymen" who are so quick to call him black or African American when he was born of a white mother and grew up with her and his white grandparents. He is as white as any white person but his skin color and that of his wife and children have made him black. He is our first non fully white president, but I wouldn't say he is our first African American or black president because in all actuality he is biracial and though white people still live by that "one drop" rule, it is simply fact here and has always been. When a man who is a dark as Michelle Obama, or a woman like Michelle Obama becomes president, I will really feel as if this country has taken a turn. So I guess what I am saying is that my feelings on Obama are mixed. When he won I wasn't ecstatic like so many others, I thought to myself "finally" and he had to do it with a near perfect record and campaign, he had to work harder than any other candidate ever had to work just because he knew and we knew and the GOP knew that if he slipped up even once, that it would have cost him the presidency.

I personally like Obama, I think he is a great person from what I have read about him and by him. I believe he is fully capable of being an excellent president, and I feel he is a great change for this country. However, I do not think that this country is as worthy of praise as it was made to seem to be when Obama won; as if the issue of racism is no longer relevant because a non fully white male was finally elected into office.

Change does not come easily and four years is by far not enough time to change anything in a country like the U.S. but anything far from what Bush has been doing cannot possibly hurt this country anymore than it has been hurting for the past eight years. Obama's presidency will be under great scrutiny but every black person or potentially non-white person will be under scrutiny as well because if he can do it, our white counterparts will think certainly any one of us can do it. It has already been exhibited in a state (I forget which one) that is trying to repeal Affirmative Action as if it is no longer needed. Apparently, the problem is fixed now...

I'm done, but we must pray. We must pray for the people who have been threatened by these fanatics who are in an uproar since the election of Obama. It baffles me how individuals could be so hateful. How does one have so much hate in their hearts for a people they know so little about besides what they hear about them or see on television? One vandal spray-painted on several vehicles "Go back to Africa" after the election, clearly showing the ignorance of these racists. Who brought Africans to America again? Did they come willingly? After I read that, I thought, what if just for a day, every non white person suddenly disappeared, I wonder how the "real" America would run on that day. Anyway, we must pray for Obama, his family, and his administration. We must pray...

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