This Historical Election

This week, as every watched, the United States of America elected a new President, Barack Obama. The historic impact of Tuesday's election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president was clearly reflected on front pages of popular magazines worldwide. Most newspapers, read the words, "Historic," "Change," and simply, "Obama" to magnify the important of this selection. The New York Times, one of the most bought/viewed papers worldwide, used 96-point font to proclaim this event and surprisingly, only three times in its history has this size font been used before. Previously, only the resignation of Richard Nixon, the first man on the moon, and the Sept. 11 attacks sparked such a large front-page font for the paper.
As you look at the impact closely, there is one thing that most people can say: They never expected a black man to be elected to the highest position in the United States. One reporter put the election result into her own word by saying, "Perhaps History itself demanded that we pass through the pain and humiliation of the Bush era in order to merit the relief granted by this election." I think this sums it up great. Most people saw the economy struggling and need "change we can believe in." Right when people were on the brink of breaking, the election hit, change came, and it brought belief to people's minds.

Another way that this win was historic was for the events leading up to it. As we saw, a woman and a black man were competing over who has more influence. We've got supporters, of an African-American man and a woman arguing over which is more qualified to be leader of the free world, and everyone, no matter what you previously thought, took it seriously. Finally, I think Obama's selection is historic because of the American voters. We could have followed what had happened in previous years or just sat home, but we didn't. We chose to hope and vote for who we thought was best for us, the people. While our country has fallen, while we have less confidence than ever, we still took a risk.