Victory

Houston’s Fifth Ward isn’t a place you’ll find in many Texas tourist guides.

Rampant with poverty and crime this part of the city is used to being neglected. That all changed on Tuesday night as it played host to the Barack Obama victory party.

Having the official Obama headquarters in the region was a morale boost for the local community. Everyday the office would be swarmed with volunteers, mostly African American and Latino, eager to do whatever they could to help get the Senator elected.

Many had never voted before but wanted to contribute by making phone calls to battleground states or by ‘cuttin turf’ better known to you and I as canvassing.

Cecilia Chavez, 17, could have taken the easy option of paid work with a local Republican candidate to fulfill her High School assignment. Instead she opted to work for free and exceeded her volunteer hours to devote time to the Obama campaign.

“I wanted to feel like I was involved with something that mattered,” she told me. The teenager spoke for many.

Come Tuesday night and the Fifth Ward was buzzing with anticipation. Black, White, Asian and Irish (there’s always one) folks kept a close eye on the big screen as the results filtered through.

Everyone knew Obama was ahead in the polls but fears of another Florida were never far away. When you’re so closely involved with something you tend to lose a bit of perspective. Our concern was whether enough of those newly registered voters would show up.

My friend and colleague Ken Flippin who works for the Democratic National Committee set me straight, “Look man, you can only steal elections when they are close and we’ve worked too hard for that to happen.”

We all hoped he was right as we tucked into the famous fish fry.

When the first call on Texas came through it gave John McCain a slight lead of three points. Cue mass cheering and while his lead was extended to a 12 point margin by the end of the night that felt like a small victory to us. Texas will be closer in future elections as the Latino population here continues to grow in huge numbers and they generally vote for a Democrat.

Then the real drama began as the talking heads on the big screen called Pennsylvania for Obama. Ten points! It wasn’t even close and when Ohio came through the writing was on the wall.

All we needed was the confirmation and didn’t the pundits make us wait for it? In fairness the news networks likely didn’t want a repeat of 2000 by calling the race prematurely.

As we waited the Fifth Ward was hopping with media and local politicians. Then at 10pm local time as the polls closed in California the announcement came through.

“ABC News predicts that Barack Obama will become the 44^th President of the United States.”

What followed was mass joy and the biggest outpouring of emotion I’ve ever witnessed. As I gazed around there were tears streaming down the faces of elderly black women, young white men and there was the repeated chant of “We did it.”

The only comparison I can make was when our “nation held its breath” during Italia 90. I lost count of how many strangers embraced me and hugged as though their lives depended on it.

In the office I saw a middle aged black lady draping her arms around a young white girl. Every colour and creed came together as one during this unforgettable moment. It seemed to sum up Barack Obama’s whole message – unity.

When the next President made his acceptance speech we listened intently. An entire nation was hanging on his every word as he promised hope and change. Two simple but highly yearned for aspirations in a country that has been divided for far too long.

Much is expected of Barack Obama in the next four years. Can he do it?

To slightly alter his campaign slogan, Yes He Can.