Yes, We Did

The Primary and General Elections were the most amazing events to follow. Although I have some conservative views, there was something about Obama to me from the beginning, even when most of the folk I knew were immediately Clinton backers because they knew nothing of Barack. But for me, there was something very presidential about him that I saw very early on. When I saw early footage of Michelle, I knew for sure that this is a dynamic man with a dynamic woman...a dynamic duo. After Hillary's campaign and Hillary went way negative and Barack won the Democratic nomination, I thought he could surely win over her voters to beat McCain. When McCain went way negative and way wrong with our "strong economy" and brought on Palin and that "plumber," I just knew America was not feeling it, and our guy really had a shot. If his campaign in any way foreshadows his adminstration, we will be in good shape, as opposed to his opponents' whose leadership skills and judgement were highly questionable. We are elated about President-Elect Obama and just pray that God is with him every step of the way. Yay, President-Elect That One!!!




Although we assumed we lived in a McCain neighborhood, just based on the demographics, the McCain yard signs did not appear all over until our own Obama yard sign and Obama car magnets were on show. The next day or so, everyone must have put in their McCain orders. We had planned on having a big Obama get-together on Election night with something major visually going on in the yard but some friends beat us to the punch when we got a wonderful formal Obama Election party invite in the mail. We dressed in our Obama garb and went to celebrate the election and a possible win.



The man of the house, Laurence, is a TV hound, obviously. 7 TVs in the basement...it was a flatscreen store. It made for a great environment to watch the returns, whether you were playing pool or eating at the bar. Our hosts had a nice "soul food" spread accompanied by some other goodies.

When we got there at 7, I had knots in my stomach and did not eat because for the first 30 minutes to one hour it seemed, McCain held a lead for a long 15 minutes or so that made you get doubtful, thinking about all the Bradley Effect- theories that were discussed so much. Did the polls lie for the past 2 months? Did Hannity, Limbaugh and the rest successfully poison the country against Barack?? Are folk gonna vote differently from all their Obama chanting, once it is just them and that ballot behind that little curtain? Then, BAM!! Obama took the lead and led to the end. As McCain said after his loss, "America spoke clearly" that evening. I could eat!!!

We were all dressed in our Obama garb. Crafty Monique handmade Leslie's Obama logo on a turtleneck.

Table of ladies watching the returns and in deep reflection.

Watching the returns...theater style. What fun! Quadson wants a theater now!!

All the Obama kiddies. For them so see a president that looks like them...I can't imagine what influence that will have on their young, impressionable lives.

There was TV footage of the returns at my home church, the famous Ebenezer...a big, big celebration. We joined in with the TV crowd singing, "We Shall Overcome."

Our hosts were heading out of town the next day, so we did not wear out our welcome, but we did head to our family's house to finish the celebration. They live 2 miles from the party so they paused their TV til we got there, so we could all watch Barack's speech together. What a night!!!!

The next day I flew some balloons to accompany my sign. Our guy did it!