Proud to be an American again

By
Bill Press                                                                          Read Spanish Version

It’s
true that every election is significant. But it’s also true that it’s
impossible to exaggerate the special significance of this one.

In
so many ways, the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of
the United States is nothing short of revolutionary. It represents a
180-degree change of direction for American policy and politics.

At
least for the next eight years — do Republicans seriously believe
they can dislodge Obama with Sarah Palin? — we won’t have to fight
the White House any longer. The White House will actually be fighting
for us.

On
the domestic front, we will soon have a president who believes in,
and supports, all the issues we have worked so hard to achieve: civil
rights; women’s rights; gay rights; workers’ rights; universal health
care; protecting the environment; and making our schools, again, the
best in the world. And, of course, we’ll welcome a president who
believes in protecting our basic freedoms and respecting the
important limits on executive power enshrined in the Constitution.
Not to mention the joy of having a president who doesn’t mangle the
English language.

On
the global front, we will soon have a president who believes in, and
supports, ending the war in Iraq, obeying international law, leading
the fight against global warming, favoring diplomacy over bombs, and
working with our allies as a partner rather than a schoolyard bully.
And, most importantly, we will no longer feel embarrassed or ashamed
of our president. Instead, we will take pride in a leader who is
respected and admired around the world. Barack Obama’s election was
not only greeted by enthusiastic crowds in cities and towns across
America, it was celebrated in Paris, Buenos Aires, Cape Town and
Cairo.

Those
policy differences are important. But what makes this election
especially significant is the election of our first African-American
president. It’s official. Barack Obama will be our next president. It
took 40 years, but the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. — that our
children would someday be judged "not by the color of their
skin, but by the content of their character" — has finally
become a reality.

This
historic achievement is a particularly proud and emotional moment for
African-Americans. One caller to my radio show told of her experience
as a little girl, accompanying her grandfather to a polling place,
only to see him turned away by men with shotguns because he was
black. This year, she accompanied her son as he voted for the first
time and helped make history by electing a black man as president.

But
it’s a proud moment for all the rest of us, too. Despite all the
warnings about the so-called "Bradley Effect," we proved
the pundits wrong — much to our own delight, and even surprise. For
my part, I grew up in a segregated town in Delaware, where there were
white stores and "colored" stores, white churches and
"colored" churches, a white school and a "colored
school." The "N" word was everywhere, and white folks
and black folks never mixed.

My
parents were a rare exception. As owner and operator of a gas
station, my father welcomed black customers, hired black employees
and invited them to his annual Christmas reception in our home. Only
one, Mr. Bootie Carter, dared accept the invitation. But even he
insisted on arriving and leaving via the kitchen door. He didn’t want
to cause any trouble, he said, by walking in the front door of a
white man’s home.

Little
did any of us dream that, half a century later, a black man would
walk in the front door of the White House — a house built by slaves
on land ceded by two slave states, Maryland and Virginia! — as the
next president of the United States.

But
that day of racial divide is gone forever. From now on, when people
around the world hear us say that we believe all Americans are
created equal, with equal rights and opportunities under the
Constitution, they’ll know we really mean it.

It’s
a new day and a new beginning. I’ve never been so proud to be an
American.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.
(c)
2008 Tribune Media Services, Inc.