Reality sinks in for local residents
as Obama prepares
to assume power
The true import of America’s decision to elect a black man as President of the United States began to sink in for many this week.
Forty-year-old Arthur “Boo” Lawson, a cook in Washington and Lee University’s Marketplace, said his father’s words of wisdom came true on Election Day.
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| President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, and Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, wave to the crowd after Obama's victory speech Nov. 4. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) |
“My father told me… it wouldn’t be in his lifetime, but it would be in my lifetime,” said Lawson, who is African-American.
Lawson’s father, who died five years ago, was referring to the election of a person of color to the White House.
Lawson considers the race between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain the most important election of his lifetime. He has voted since he turned 18.
Sarah White, also an employee at Washington and Lee’s Marketplace, and like Lawson an African-American, agrees.
“I think he’s the right person for the job,” she said.
Obama’s Virginia Campaign for Change set up a local office at the Democratic Party headquarters on Main Street in Lexington. Even so, the campaign’s effort in Rockbridge County fell short. McCain and Palin took the county with 56 percent of the vote to 42 percent for Obama and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. Joe Biden.
But Obama and Biden took Virginia as a whole, 52 percent to 47 percent.
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| Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., left, talks with then-Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama in Chicago. Obama's fellow Chicagoan Emanuel has accepted the job of White House chief of staff. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) |
Obama also took the swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida early and decisively, calming fears of repeating the absentee ballot mess of 2004 in Ohio or the hanging chad fiasco of Florida in the 2000 election.
While Americans are beginning to understand the significance of electing a black man to the White House, many Europeans are overjoyed.
Andrew Protogyrou, a Norfolk-based lawyer and VMI alumnus, said he used to teach law in Poland.
“I had an e-mail from one of my Polish law students; I had family in Greece call,” Protogyrou said. “All of them were congratulating us on what we’ve done in the United States. A historic time, and it’s an exciting time.”
Produced by
Washington and Lee
journalism students.
Lead Supervisors:
Prof. Brian
Richardson
Prof. Indira Somani
Editing supervisor:
Prof. Doug
Cumming
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd