See? Told Ya

Obama sticker from MoveOn.org, by Shepard Fairey

We found out today that Mr. Obama won in NC - by .4% of the vote. I live in a state that hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1976 - and then, it was for a Southern white man. This is HUGE. We - home to hateful, divisive Jesse Helms, voted in for FIVE Senate terms - voted for Barack Obama.

I have said for years that every vote counts. Even after the 2000 election, I believed if more people had voted, it wouldn't have been as close as it was. WE are the government, and despite the evidence in recent years, I still believed. This election proved that every single vote does, indeed, count. Our 15 electoral votes will go to Obama.

I heard that one reason Obama won in Florida is because campaign volunteers there contacted the 600,000 registered Democrats who didn't vote in 2000 - ostensibly to say, "Guess what? If you had voted, we would never have heard the term hanging chad."

Before the election, I heard more than a few people say, "I'll vote, but it won't matter. My state *always* votes Republican, by a big margin." And now, if I ever hear that again, I'll have a real-life rebuttal. Look what happened! Look what CAN happen!

"...I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other." (from Barack Obama's acceptance speech)

We are the government. We are the change we've been waiting for. Are you ready?