The word change has gotten a lot of publicity lately. Change this, change that, change everything. President-elect Obama never really defined change to an exact definition during his campaign, because he didn't have to. The world response to his victory was evidence enough that America had changed. I guess the first and most obvious definition of the word is the change of mindset, concluding that a minority can obtain the highest office. This was not just a religious minority like it was when JFK was elected in 1960 as the first Catholic President, this was a racial minority that entered America in chains.
This is the largest step we have ever taken towards the statement of our founding fathers that "all men are created equal". I am not saying that any of John McCain's supporters, fervent or more apathetic, are by any means wrong or against change. John McCain is a highly respected man of this country and we all are in his debt. I am by no means denying the end of slavery, the right of women to vote, and the equality of all races, genders, and religions of any dignity. What I am saying is that we as a people collectively agreed to place a person of dissimilar race into the highest office of the United States.
You can interpret Barack Obama's perspective of change any way you like. You can perceive it as an economic rescue to the middle class, as a declaration of a more diplomatic foreign policy, or as a creed of less prudent conservative values and increased government intervention. Right now those are not the subjects I am interested in contemplating. Rather I choose to look at the fact that all historians and all future generations will herald: In this great country, any person of any race, religion, or gender can be seated in the White House and rule over all peoples. Barack Obama was born at a time where racism and fear fought equality and hope, and equality and hope survived. Generation Y, along with millions of other persons of other generations declared that the only prerequisites for the Oval Office are dreams that through hard work, leadership, and a little charisma, that it can someday be acquired.
