We DID IT!

November 4th, 2008
Barack Obama is the next president of our great nation!
I have worked in small ways and big ways for this campaign since the early days of the primary season! I cried the night Obama won the Iowa Caucasus; tears much like tonight of joy, anticipation, and a twinge of disbelief.
On a broader level I have awaited this moment since I was in kindergarten and Reagan beat Carter, I was the lone child who voted for Carter that year.
I grew up during the Reagan Era and came of age as the first Bush was fighting the gulf war.
Many times as I was growing up I felt like I must of been born in the wrong era, tonight I finally feel like I was born into the right time and place.
I have been an environmentalist since I was old enough to understand that the earth was a living planet and that humans had an impact on it.
I have been a progressive at my core on every level since I began thinking about how the world works and realized that social justice was constantly under fire from society. I have fought for social justice, for progressive education, and yes for real change since I was barely an adolescent.
I joined the Huron Valley Green's when I was 12 years old and remained a dedicated member through high school and into college.
I entered college on a platform of being and becoming a change agent in the world, perhaps not surprisingly I went to Oberlin College as an undergraduate.
I supported Bill Clinton although I was not quite old enough to vote for him in 1992. As an Oberlin College first year student I was critical of many of the moderate positions of Clinton even during those first months.
This may be a center-right country, but I have been a far left Green Progressive Democrat since I was not even a teenager.
As I turned 18 and watched Clinton fail to stand by his promise of Universal Health care, I stopped believing in him. I was always a fan of his VP AL Gore and his dedication to the ecological well being of our planet. I thought Hillary Clinton Rocked through most of the Bill Clinton era, this faded fast as she stopped fighting with passion for what she believed in at the beginning.
I voted for Bill Clinton for his second term, my first presidential election I could vote in although I was already 21, and I did so with major reservations as I voted for a moderate who was no longer fighting for any of my liberal values. As I graduated from Oberlin College I was as much a Progressive Liberal Green Democrat as the day I began college, if not more.
I voted for Al Gore in 2000 despite the fact that I did not trust Joe Lieberman (clearly in hindsight for good reason). I cried for several days after the election was stolen from us in Florida. As a PhD student at the University of Minnesota I took solace in becoming a strong Wellstone supporter as I mourned the loss of the 200 election.
I cried even harder when September 11th, 2001 occurred as most of the country did, I am a child of New York City and this tore at my soul. I mourned the loss of our country and my own innocence in the waning days of 2001. That day is the day I began to seek other ways to find change in our society and for hope in this world. Yet I did not feel the need to stand behind a clearly militaristic President Bush. I understood Afghanistan and the need to pursue Osama Bin Laden. I was angry and disenchanted from the moment Iraq was thrown into the discussion. The mess that it is was clear to me before it even began.
I was devastated in 2002 Wellstone, his wife, and some of my professor's who were his campaign aids tragically died in a plane crash. As if to throw salt on the wound Norm Coleman won the election that year for senate in a race that should have been won by Paul Wellstone.
To be honest in 2004 I supported Howard Dean even after he lost his temper.
I joined Move-On.org as soon as it was up and running online.
I pounded the pavement literally with an infant to get out the vote for John Kerry in 2004 in Minnesota. I was heart broken when he lost. Kerry was too moderate for me as well, but I would have been very happy for him to win.
I am an Environmentalist
I am a progressive
I am a Proud Bleeding Heart Liberal
I am a dedicated supporter of Change
I am a Pacifist
I am a believer in Peace
I am a believer in Universal Health Care
I am a believer in Child-Centered Education
I am a Single Mother
I am a Professor
I am a Social Justice advocate
I am a strong advocate for transformational change
I believe in Grass Roots Democracy
I believe in the Power of the People
I believe in Free Speech
I believe in the firm separation of Church and State
I believe in Equal Pay for Equal Work
I believe that a small group of people can change the world
I believe in true equality
I believe in equal rights for all people in all situations
I am proud to be an American for the first time in my adult life
I am proud to have worked to elect the first Multicultural President in the United States
I believe in President Barack Obama