In 16 Days

Barack Obama is going to be sworn into office. Our first African-American president, which is only a big deal because it shouldn't be such a big deal. The focus of one of the largest, most all-encompassing presidential campaigns ever. The latest in a long string of leaders serving a nation that needs, more than ever, a strong leader. A personal hero of mine.

And what is even more amazing to me is that I am going to be there to see it happen.

The minute that Hillary (of course I supported her to begin with; she's a Clinton!) conceded, I began learning everything I could about the man named Barack "if they knew I would run for office, they never would have given me this middle name" Hussein Obama. And I found out that if I had done that earlier, I probably would have supported him to begin with. I have found absolutely nothing to suggest anything other than that he is a decent, intelligent, charismatic man who knows how to take charge and give in, both in turn.

In July, I geared up for the campaign. I talked to people, heard what their issues were, learned everything I could.

In August, I began to meet some of his campaign staffers at the national level. I got to know our local staffer fairly intimately and spoke at house parties and began making phone calls to undecided voters. I manned the Democratic Party booth at the state fair and reassured dozens of people that Barack wasn't going to be shot on sight because he was (this part uttered in a whispered tone) black. I reassured a few that even someone who is (again, in a whisper) "the N word" can be a strong leader. And I celebrated with hundreds that there could be new hope for our nation.

In September, I walked in parades, proudly sporting a Barack Obama t-shirt and campaign stickers for a handful of other candidates. I spent no less than twenty-four hours of every weekend knocking on doors and handing out campaign literature and asking questions, answering questions, gently persuading voters to at least listen. I made hundreds of phone calls to people who loved Barack Obama and people who hated Barack Obama and people who had never heard of Barack Obama and people who had dozens of questions and concerns and opinions, but mainly to people who weren't home or didn't answer their phones. I heard Barack Obama speak, in person, after waiting in line for 5 hours after 24 hours without sleep, and knew that everything I was doing was worth it.

In October, I was the living dead. I did not sleep beecause there was not time. I ate only fast food, because it was--well, fast. I coordinated efforts with people I forged instant friendships with and people I hated on sight. I knocked on more doors than I had ever even seen before, some of them 8 or 10 times throughout the month. I woke up in the middle of the night talking to imaginary voters on an imaginary phone in my sleep. I soothed egos and intervened in verbal wars between staffers and volunteers. When the campaign sent Michigan staffers to Indiana and our staffer stayed behind with an unrealistically large area to coordinate, I took over the efforts in my county--did his job, 12 hour work days and all, without his paycheck, and without mine, too.

For a few very hazy days in November, I coordinated, in my county, the most massive Get Out The Vote effort EVER. I campaigned for Barack Obama and a state representative who broke her hip and completely disappeared from the scene three weeks before the election. I knocked on even MORE doors. On Election Day, the culmination of it all, I was separated from all the people I had gotten so intimately involved with and sent to another county to coordinate their final Get Out The Vote effort there, arriving home bleary eyed and nervous an hour before results started coming in.

And at some point during the evening of Tuesday, November 4th, I heard a reported on CNN say that they were tentatively calling the election, in favor of Barack Hussein Obama. I cried harder than I have ever cried before. Because in that moment, I knew that I had succeeded harder than I had ever succeeded before. I made immediate plans to surround myself with friends on January 20th to watch President Obama take his oath of office on a big screen TV, and stare enviously at the millions who were there to see it in person. I never dreamed I would be one of the millions.

But 14 days from now, I will be in a car, probably driving through Ohio, on my way to a cheap, dingy hotel in Baltimore, and on January 20th, I will be freezing to death in a crowd of millions of people while I watch Barack Obama place his hand on the same bible Abraham Lincoln placed his hand on so many years ago and swear to uphold the duties of the office of President of the United States of America.

I have succeeded.