Citizen Will

Orange County Commissioner Mike Nelson posted this small poem on his ‘blog in celebration of the Obama blowout:

Rosa sat so Martin could walk.
Martin walked so Jesse could run.
Jesse ran so Barack could win.
Barack won so our children can fly.

Nice.

Ellie, Elijah and I stayed up past midnight tracking the close NC Presidential race. The last hour and a half the State Board of Elections (SBOE) showed McCain leading by a small margin. For some reason, integrating results from several presumably “blue” counties – Asheville’s Buncombe and Wilson’s Wilson – lagged. Larry Kissel, the valiant school teacher who battled millionaire porkmeister Robin Hayes was also running close (I have supported Larry since I met him several years ago at a local progressive Democrat event).

I really wanted a “blue” sweep in North Carolina this year.

11PM California clinched to race. Incredible! We hung on to each word of his historic acceptance speech – which has already begun to set the tone of his Presidency – and discussed how better days were on the way.

About 11:30pm, we started to get excited as WRAL, then WTVD and finally NBC17 began to report a swing of several to tens of thousands of votes Obama’s way.

Finally, well after midnight, as Mecklenberg, Buncombe and Wilson totals came in, the SBOE reported an Obama win!

We did a family jig, put Elijah to bed and went to sleep knowing that our child, and many other children, have a better chance today than they did yesterday to spread their wings and fly.