President Obama

Election Day 73, originally uploaded by Oscalito.

My job requires me to watch a lot of political videos every single day. I have to watch CNN shows and MSNBC, and for the last two months I have been anxious to be able to write ‘President Obama” as part of my work. I got the do it yesterday A LOT, but it didn’t sink in until today, when I did it without thinking about it. It has a great ring to it, but at the same time, it sounds weird. He seems like such a cool, likable guy, that it’s odd that he is my new President. I’ve never liked my President. Not even Clinton, definitely not Bush. Obama has my respect and admiration. I just hope he doesn’t lose it.

What has bothered me about his election, we took such a giant step forward in equality, in hope, in breaking down barriers, yet in places like Florida, Arizona, and California, we have taken a huge step back by banning gay marriage. We are still in the same place we were on Monday. I refuse to think we are living in a new America. For one moment, I did. At 11:00pm Pacific Time, the Moment, when Obama was declared President of the United States, I felt a surge of joy that I have never felt in my life. Here in California, gay men and women could get married, and a black man was President of the United States. It was grand.

But bittersweet. The next morning, we knew the reality. Proposition 8 had passed. They won. The haters. Because that’s the only thing they are. Ignorant haters. A lot of stats bothered me. Blacks and Latinos overwhelmingly voted to ban gay marriage while voting a black man into office. Talk about hypocrisy. It makes my blood boil. At the same time, I am quietly optimistic that this is not over, and that President Obama is a rational, forward thinking human being, and will make things right. His election was a historic moment for civil rights, he should make sure it’s not tainted by the same hate and ignorance that black americans, his heritage, faced not that long ago.