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Though I find myself tonight in Mexicali, Mexico, a place where American politics lies only miles away and over a border fence, the sense that it is a "history-in-the-making" night is palpable. As I flipped to the local evening news here I saw that the top story was Obama's win. To think that the events that occured in Iowa, a state so distant to Mexico that it might as well be in Canada for most Mexicans, made the headlines across the green, white, and red speaks volumes to the history that was written on this January night. I enjoyed my family's reaction to my newfound involvement in politics, they could plainly see my enthusiasm and most came to support Obama simply due to the passion they saw on my face and heard in my voice. Some of course shrugged off my wishful thinking by saying, "esos gringos will never vote a negrito into the Oval Office." As harsh as that may sound, many people up until a few weeks ago also believed in the notion that the US will elect a woman before they elect a black man. Now, with a decisive win under his belt, in no thanks to some overwhelming minority community--Iowa, a state that is 95% white voted for change. The face on newsstands tomorrow all across the country will be one of a man about as opposite as President Bush as they come...and no, I'm not talking about Mike Huckabee, I'm talking about Barack Obama! An earthquake has begun, not near the Pacific's "ring-of-fire" or by the San Andrea fault line, but in landlocked Iowa. What began as a small rumble months ago when Obama was just believe to another "flavor-of-the-month" political celebrity, turned into a shaking of the polls, and now his movement has registered on the Richter scale. Waves will run through the hearts and minds of once disillusioned Americans and soon a movement will begin as the hope for change becomes a reality and consumes everyone in its path. Those who were once apprehensive, and shyed away from following their hearts, will now have reason to believe. Reason to believe that change can come about, that a new politics is possible, that universal health care which was once a privilge for the few can be a right to the many. That people will stop talking about the global climate crisis and begin to take action. We began with HOPE, then we BELIEVED, and now we must take ACTION!
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