Editorial: Election day turns into historic night
In one of those moments that should be remembered for a lifetime, Americans witnessed history Tuesday night when Barack Obama was declared president-elect of the United States.
Obama’s march to the presidency tears down barriers that have existed in America since its founding. Just a generation ago, it seemed improbable that an African-American could ever be elected to the White House.
You could say that Martin Luther King, Shirley Chisholm and Jesse Jackson helped pave the way to history. King is an American icon that changed public consciousness through a civil rights movement that began with a bus boycott in Montgomery during the mid-1950s and heightened with a march on Washington in 1963. His efforts to put an end to racial prejudice led to a Nobel Peace Prize.
Chisholm became the first black candidate for president back in 1972. George McGovern won the Democratic nomination that year and Chisholm garnered just 28 delegates. But she impacted the face of politics as a seven-term Congresswoman representing New York.
Jackson was a Democratic candidate for president in 1984 and 1988. Jackson wasn’t considered a serious candidate in the beginning but he did impact the process, especially in his latter campaign. In his first try at the White House, he collected 18.2 percent of the vote in his quest for the Democratic nomination. Four years later, he won seven primaries and four caucuses and was at one point considered the frontrunner before Michael Dukakis emerged as the Democratic Party’s winner.
During his victory speech on Tuesday night, Obama made reference to Ann Nixon Cooper, a 106-year-old woman from Atlanta born just a generation past slavery.
“Tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope, the struggle and the progress, the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed Š yes we can,” Obama said.
He followed with our past challenges and triumphs from the Dust Bowl to a New Deal and a bridge in Selma to King proclaiming, “we shall overcome.”
“This year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and darkest of hours, she knows how America can change Š yes we can.”
During a moving concessions speech in Phoenix, Sen. John McCain bowed out with class.
“America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time,” McCain said after making reference to outrage expressed when President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House in 1901. “There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States.”
McCain was gracious in defeat and reiterated the love he has for his country. He is a hero in every sense of the word – a man who was pushed to the limits of rational thought as a POW during the Vietnam War. Hopefully, Americans will remember his sacrifices like so many others who persevered to protect our freedom.
Yes, it was an historic night. And now, our next president will face tough challenges ahead. As the saying goes, “now comes the hard part.”
— Brad Fuqua, The Western News