For the first time …
Posted by Sherry Hughes on November 4, 2008
When my niece was born, I was 13. I babysat for her, played with her and took her to see New Kids on the Block (the first time around). I went to her wedding and was on the other end of the phone with her moments after her son was born.
And she’s voted in past elections, I know. But this election has her energized in a way I haven’t seen before. She’s in her 30s now, but we’ve never talked politics a whole lot. When her brother was in Iraq, I don’t believe she voted for President Bush, but I don’t really know.
During this election, she did many things. She talked to me about politics. She went on a march for her candidate in Pennyslvania. She became excited about this process. She is informed. And she voted for Obama.
I have many ideas about why she came to life in this political season. Her son turns 13 soon. I think she is seeing the way her vote and the political process in general will affect him. And because her son is old enough to know a lot about politics now, it’s important for her to participate and set an example. But also, as the mother of a biracial child, she saw a presidential candidate who looks like her son. It wasn’t a deciding factor, any more than voting for John McCain because he is a white man would be.
But it’s safe to say that there’s an entire generation of people who are tired of being represented by politicians who don’t look, act, think or feel the way they do. It’s safe to say that Barack Obama has excited a faction of voters who truly see him as a man who stands for change. Obama was ridiculed by the McCain campaign, by Sarah Palin in particular, for being a community organizer. But it was his skill as a community organizer that attracted support that later propelled him into political office. He had a great education, he’s very smart and he certainly had that rock star quality. But to be able to work on both sides of the aisle to bring about solutions … well, not everyone can do that. Few can, actually.
So, I’ve been getting texts all night from my niece in New Jersey. Every time a state is called one way or another, I get a text.
And regardless of who she voted for, and I truly mean this, I’m excited because she is.
— Sherry Hughes
