President-elect Barack Obama last night in
Grant Park. (Photo: AP)
Hail To The Historical Chief: Barack Obama
Elected 44th President Of The United States
By
Omar P.L. Moore/The
Popcorn Reel
November 4, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO, California
Tonight history was made in the United States of America as Barack Obama was
elected the nation's 44th President, becoming the first black person to be
elected to the highest political office in the land. In a stunning
victory, the one-term Democratic Illinois senator was elected by
landslide-proportions via the electoral college, 349 to 159 at the time of this
writing, with a six percentage-point margin (53%-47%) in the popular vote, or by
more than 6.5 million votes, over Senator John McCain of Arizona.
Senator Obama surpassed the feats of many of his fellow Democratic presidential
candidate predecessors by winning in states that hadn't been won by Democrats
for 40, 50 or even 60-plus years. By this publishing, MSNBC News had
projected that Indiana, a staunchly conservative state that had voted Republican
in every presidential election since the 1940's had been won by Senator Obama, a
seemingly jaw-dropping impossibility, especially since Indiana had once been the
heartbeat of the Ku Klux Klan barely 80 years ago. Just as remarkable were
Mr. Obama's wins in Florida, Ohio and Virginia (which hadn't been won by a
Democrat since 1964).
Speaking before hundreds of thousands in Grant Park in his home city of Chicago
at just after eleven o'clock local time tonight, the president-elect said that
"if there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all
things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in
our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your
answer." Senator Obama also hailed Senator McCain, who earlier had given a
gracious concession speech in Phoenix, Arizona, his home state, praising the
next president and calling on his supporters to join Senator Obama and help
unify a fractured country battered not only by the divisiveness of a losing
campaign but by an tattered economy which has taken a severe toll on millions of
Americans. Throughout his 18-minute address, president-elect Obama evoked
Lincoln, Kennedy, King and Reagan.
Joined on a flag-populated stage by his wife and First Lady-to-be Michelle Obama,
vice-president-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill, as well as extended members of
the Obama and Biden clans, the president-elect soaked up raucous applause and
cheers while John Williams' music score for the film "The Patriot" thundered
triumphantly into the night.
Chicago's own, Reverend Jesse Jackson, who made a 2008 Obama presidential run
possible with the second of two of his own runs for U.S. president 20 years ago,
and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey could be seen shedding tears of joy and
disbelief both before and during the president-elect's appearance in Grant Park.
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. PopcornReel.com. 2008. All Rights
Reserved.