Risking it All...and Winning

Watching joyously as the election returns rolled in, my thoughts kept drifting back to Hillary Clinton and that epic Democratic primary battle. Knowing what we know now about the financial crisis, I think it’s fair to say that Hillary would have beaten McCain quite handily. It would have been a great victory for women, for America, and for the world. But that victory would not have been nearly as momentous as Obama’s victory last night for the simple reason that Hillary was the safe bet. Her name, after all, is “Clinton.” And another Clinton in the White-House would not have sent shock-waves across the world. It would not have renewed the vitality of our democracy by showing that, in a time of economic crisis as well as war, the American people have the courage to elect as president the most improbable of candidates—a 47 year-old black man who, a mere four years ago, was a State Senator from Illinois. America went for it all. And with the aid of a political perfect storm, we proved to ourselves and to the rest of the world that America will strive into the future with hope and vigor rather than retrench, lick our wounds, and batten down the hatches out of fear.

Let’s remember to thank the voters in the lily-white state of Iowa for giving us this opportunity. Without their support of Obama in the Democratic primary, we probably would not be here today, feeling such immense pride in this great country of ours.