I jokingly articulated on Facebook that we will see a large spike in the number of births across the nation in about nine months. I coined the phenomenon "the Obama-Boomers," or the Oboomers for succinctness. I did not initially mean to insinuate that President-elect Barack Obama's ascension to the presidency is on par with the conclusion of World War II but the more I think about it, the more I realize there are some interesting, even striking parallels between the two events.
For starters, they are both globally and historically exciting. The amount of international faith Obama has inspired is actually kind of surprising. Also there are these notions of democracy which have been reaffirmed by these monumental events. Obama's victory has been hailed as a testament to American democracy, the likes of which we haven't seen in at least the last eight years.
But what exactly is so exciting about Obama becoming the president-elect? Yes, Obama's tunneling through the political-racial barrier is a major historical phenomenon, but the common misconception was that this was inevitable.
Personally, I imagined it was going to be a piecemeal victory. I imagined a slow, but steady approach, with the American people favoring black candidates in Congress. Instead, the civil rights community has been wailing on the front door of democracy, and Obama has walked around and found the a side door unlocked. This definitely caught me by surprise. When I was in high school, I concluded I would not live to see the first black president, which is really kind of sad considering that I should be too young to be so cynical.
It's fantastic to be in college experiencing this monumental event. It truly feels like we are “living history” both in the personal and historical sense. I can already imagine what it will be like for future generations to read about this moment in textbooks, and I pity them for not having gone through it themselves.
Jesse Hilaire
Trinity '09
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