 "Photo: Zbigniew Bzdak/MCT")
On Nov. 4, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States of America. This election was historic for a number of reasons. While media outlets focus on the fact that Obama will be the first mixed-race U.S. president, this election also saw the largest voter turnout in at least 40 years, according to the Associated Press. Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) students and faculty share their stories about and reactions to this historic election below.
Fariso Maswoswe, FCLC ’10, expresses her delight at Obama’s election:
"I am jubilant!!! This is so amazing, not just for African-Americans, but for everyone. The majority of the people who voted for him were white, which speaks a lot to how racial barriers in this country are coming down! I also hope people don't think that this means that racism doesn't still exist, or that the generational issues that plague the black community are now magically dissolved over night, but that we still have a lot of work to do. I love this newfound hope and inspiration and I hope that this coming together is long lasting as we move forward to create a better America and a better world. For the first time ever in my adult life, I can say I am so proud of this country and proud to be an American.
Besides the racial aspect and excitement of it all, the Republicans are just so wrong on so many things, and I'm glad America was smart enough to realize that. Democrats [were bound to get] the White House back and I'm glad that it is with Barack Obama."
Shumona Shimi, FCLC ’11, recounts her experience applying for an absentee ballot:
“I applied for an absentee ballot three times and I still have not received anything in the mail. I tried calling the Board of Elections only to have them transfer me a hundred times and in the end I left a message for some lady that wasn't in the office. So [as of Oct. 31], I still don't know what’s going on."
Keith Eldredge, FCLC dean of students, was pleased to see students so invested in the election:
“Although I was not surprised by Barack Obama's election, I was a bit surprised by the visible positive impact it had for students on campus. Students have been discussing the election for weeks, but the day after the election, I heard almost nothing other than election related topics being discussed in 408. Students seem hopeful, optimistic and energized. I hope the enthusiasm and engagement generated by Obama's campaign and now by his election can be sustained as we face the challenges of the upcoming years.”
Andrew Padilla FCLC '11, laments how uninformed some of his fellow voters were on Election Day:
“The lines to vote begun at 5:30 a.m. in the 15th congressional district (D-Rangel), also known as East Harlem. Since New York isn't really a swing state, the long lines weren't [due to] a strategic shortage of machines in a targeted district masked under the veil of patriotic high turn out. No, these were lines of people voting all day long because they were excited. Excited for change. Excited for Obama.
But as I left the polling place having only voted for president because the people running locally in my district are all mind numbingly incompetent and ineffective 'leaders,' one lady caught my attention:
'I voted for Obama, but I hated voting for Rangel, that lying (expletive).' As I passed by I responded 'I didn't vote for him either' and she says: 'You can do that? I thought you had to vote for everyone under Obama...'
Normally apathetic, this year my district became energized…without becoming educated. They didn't educate themselves on Obama's plans, but voted for him because he eloquently related to them. And they certainly didn't educate themselves to see that voting Democratic 90 percent of the time means the party they so loyally and sometimes inadvertently vote for will take them for granted. The district I live in is no better than one in Texas that will vote for McCain simply because he's a patriot, or a "Real American."
I will concede that we have witnessed one great candidate run one great campaign. But as far as my district is concerned, the vast majority of them love Obama the way they loved Bill Clinton and the way they subsequently called him and Hillary racists: Identity and spin, not their merits.
This year bases have become energized, most have remained uneducated, and that's exactly how the parties like it. That has not changed.”
Peter Steinfels, co-director of the Center on Religion & Culture, was moved by Obama's win:
“The nation desperately needed a fresh start and dramatic turn from the last eight years, and could there be a more dramatic way to do that than the election of the first African-American president in the history of this race-torn land? As a native of Chicago, a city I love but one where racism was pervasive when I lived there decades ago, I found the image of the integrated celebrating crowd in Grant Park on election night deeply moving.
Obama's task is enormous, and I hope that all the students his campaign inspired will now buckle down to serious examination of public policies and will maintain their political involvement.”
Rev. Michael J. Tueth, S.J., professor of communication and media studies, is inspired by Obama's message:
“[Obama’s election] is a dream come true. I am so proud to be an American. For once our actions reflect our ideals and everything that we say we are.
John McCain's concession speech was really classy. It was a return of the John McCain so many of us admire. His followers were not so classy.
Obama's acceptance speech expressed his sober awareness of the difficult tasks that lie ahead, and, as he typically does, he called upon us to be patient, self-sacrificing, and hopeful. So different from what we have heard for the last eight years from someone who never asked us to sacrifice, provoked fear and prejudice rather than hope, and never admitted that something might be difficult to achieve.”
Robert Isabella, FCLC ’09, has reservations about an Obama presidency:
“I think Obama won primarily because of the economic crisis. Because there is a Republican president currently in office I think a lot of people blamed the Republicans for the economic crisis. In addition, Obama came across a lot better in addressing the financial crisis during the campaign. Obama was very calm and never strayed from his original message of solving the crisis in a way that helped both the stock market and middle- and working-class Americans. His personal demeanor when discussing the crisis seemed presidential. McCain, on the other hand, didn't come across very well, proposing a number of different plans and suffering badly when he suspended his campaign to go back to Washington to negotiate the bailout deal, which came across like a cheap stunt.
I'm very worried about the next four years with Obama as president. I strongly disagree with his economic and foreign policies. I'm very strongly opposed to socialist wealth-redistribution policies of the type Obama advocates.
I was deeply disturbed when Obama said he would meet with leaders of hostile states such as Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il without preconditions. His views on foreign policy strike me as dangerously naive.”
Seth Joshua Thomas, associate professor of philosophy, describes how Obama’s election will affect his family:
“I was profoundly moved when the announcement was made, just after 11 p.m. Unlike me, my son is black, so it was a very powerful moment to be holding him in my arms, fast asleep at that hour, as the reality of what had just happened and the implications of it for his future gradually sunk in. He's only 21 months old, so he'll never really know the world any other way than the way it now is, and that's vastly different from the way it was just a day before.
In some measure [the election] seemed… to hinge on the issue of character. Early in the race both candidates had distinguished themselves as men of character, but the tide seemed to begin to turn in Obama's favor when McCain's conduct of his campaign began to tarnish his character (for instance, [when McCain adopted] some of the same very nasty tactics and tacticians used by Bush against him in South Carolina in 2004), whereas Obama came across as not only resolute and level-headed but also always genuinely respectful of everyone we ever saw him interact with.
McCain seemed to finally feel comfortable in his own skin for the first time in months during his concession speech… and, notably, he was remarkably gracious and even a bit witty there; for the first time in a while he seemed to actually believe what he was saying. I think for many people, probably most, Bush is seen as having deplorable character; it's probably true on some level that the results were a kind of referendum on poor character in the White House.”
Anne Wimmer FCLC '11, shares her experience as a McCain supporter in a liberal city:
"Well, it’s been an interesting ride. The election is finally over. I’m glad for that, though I’m not happy with the outcome. But [this piece isn't] about that.
It’s more about my experience, as a McCain supporter in a very liberal city, at a very liberal school. I’ve been met with intolerance and hatred from people who claim to treat everyone equally. I’ve been called a racist simply for questioning a candidate’s credentials, and finding them quite lacking. And I know, I know I’m going to get it these next couple weeks. I may as well just crucify myself now and save others the trouble.
I’m not going to lie, I found Obama appealing in the Democratic primaries. I’ve always been a giant McCain fan, because of his policy, moderation, willingness to cross the aisle, his experience, and his dedication to the edge of death to this country. But something about Obama to me rang of greatness. I thought that yes, we needed change. We needed a new face in the White House. I didn’t want Hillary to win because I didn’t want four years of a Bush, eight years of a Clinton, eight years of another Bush, and then four to eight years of another Clinton. But in hindsight I believe I made a mistake, as she is far more qualified. Something about Obama strikes me as fake, and I’m really scared of the following four years. But that’s beside the point.
I bought my McCain gear, fully intending to wear it everywhere. I have the t-shirt, the bumper sticker, the hat, a ton of pins, and of course a couple of bags. For the most part, people didn’t treat me too terribly. Of course, if people saw my bag at restaurants or stores I noted that they were not as friendly to me (and don’t say it’s all in my head, I wish it was). Kids at school would tease me about it, but I expected that. I knew who my friends were, and even though I disagreed politically with about 95 percent of them, I still respected them for making an informed decision and exercising their Constitutional right to vote, and I knew my true friends thought the same of me. Obviously all of us have grown up in different situations, with different backgrounds, and we’re going to disagree.
But what did get to me was the way some people treated me just because of my political beliefs. I will say right now that I never attacked anyone for their political beliefs, and if I have inadvertently, I apologize with all my heart, as no one should ever feel personally attacked over their presidential candidate. Really, let me know, because that was never my intention, though I do realize I could go a little overboard in expressing my political leanings, though only because I felt on the defensive all the time as a minority here. I really hope I never made anyone uncomfortable.
However, I can’t say that everyone else around here has treated me the same. I don’t necessarily mean Fordham students, but rather people in the city. I almost got into a fight over politics today, election day, with some people I really should never have stooped so low as to get involved with. But when people are championing misinformation and clearly are working to offend me personally, I will respond. Palin never banned a book. McCain is not a Nazi. So please, if you’re going to talk politics, at least support it with facts. Or even just words that aren’t solely expletives. I also got into another bit of a shouting match with another man on the street. Why? Because I was wearing a McCain shirt and bag. People wear Obama gear all the time, yet I’ve never once confronted them about it, and I especially wouldn’t if I did not know them. I look at it as freedom of speech, and therefore it is their every right to wear that shirt. Why was it so difficult for some people to respect that from the other side, especially since they claim to be from the party of tolerance and openness?
I hope Obama is a great president. I want him to be. He’s been elected, it was democracy at work, and come January he will be in the White House. I’ve accepted that. I’m not going to be one of those obnoxious people who pretend that didn’t happen. I’m not going to stand in the way of positive change that I know we need just to be bitter. I’m just voicing my reservations about this president and documenting this amazing, interesting election. Please let Obama prove me wrong. I’m not writing this to be annoying. I’m not writing this to attack anyone, not Obama nor his supporters. I’m only writing this because this has been a very intense last few days to me, to the point where I’ve almost gotten physically sick over it. This is cathartic for me, and I’m also writing to ask that people aren’t too strong in their gloating. I mean, yeah, a little is great, I’d do the same. But can you maybe remember how you would’ve felt if Obama had lost.
Anyways, I wish the absolute best for President Obama. I want the best kind of change possible, and I’m praying that he can deliver."
How do you feel about the election results? Do you have an Election Day story you’d like to share? Leave your story in the comments below!
