Obama seizes history

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

America’s political landscape changed definitively and forever on Tuesday evening when, one by one, key states began to glow blue, ultimately declaring a resounding victory for Sen. Barack Obama (D – Ill.)

Shortly after 10 p.m. Central Time, Sen. John McCain (R – Ariz.) called the president-elect to congratulate him o

n his victory, and shortly thereafter announced to a crowd of faithful supporters in Phoenix that he would concede the election.

In a jubilant rally in Chicago’s Grant Park, President-Elect Obama declared “… change has come to America.”
Though Obama’s victory was not the landslide many of the president-elect’s supporters had expected, it showed a majority of Americans yearned for the junior senator’s promises of an atmosphere of change.

“I know you didn’t do this just to win an election, and I know you didn’t do it for me,” Obama said in a victory speech just after midnight. “You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest in our lifetime.”

In Lockhart, voters watched with a nearly equal mix of joy and trepidation as results rolled in from across the country.

At Caldwell County Democratic Headquarters, a group of young dancers from Lockhart and the surrounding area entertained a crowd of around 200, expressing support for the young African-American presidential candidate from Illinois as they danced to songs of belief and hope.

As polls on the West Coast closed and national media outlets declared Obama the projected winner, young and old alike spilled into the streets, marching around the Caldwell Courthouse, holding signs and chanting Obama’s name.

Meanwhile at Republican Headquarters, voters gathered around the television, questioning the responsibility and ethics of pundits who declared McCain’s defeat with only the lowest percentages of votes being tallied.

By their votes, it seems, the majority of Caldwell County voters supported McCain, who in his concession speech encouraged Americans to come together now, at the end of a long and tumultuous presidential race. More than 52 percent (6,084) of the 11,683 voters to cast a ballot for the presidency in Caldwell County, chose the McCain-Palin ticket.

Obama fell short in Caldwell County, earning 5,385 (46.09 percent). Only 214 Caldwell County voters were swayed by other candidates, including Libertarian candidate Bob Barr, and an assortment of write-in candidates.