…In April, 2008, in the middle of the primary election season, my nine-year-old son was doing his 3rd grade assignment in social studies. The instructions were to work on a Wax Museum project by selecting a prominent individual to represent from a list consisting of famous people in American history, as well as contemporary personalities. Barack’s name was on the list and my son told us that he had chosen him for this project. He researched Barack’s background, education and family life to prepare his introductory speech, and as the due date grew closer, my wife and I helped him rehearse for his presentation and prepare the suit he was to wear. The day of the event, we went to the school and watched his performance. On our way back, he asked us if we really thought Barack would be elected president. We told him that everything is possible in this country if one puts his or her hope, determination, faith and hard work into it. Back then I was not sure if I wholeheartedly believed in what I told him, but I hoped that I would be able to put together the various notes and references I had been keeping throughout the campaign, to produce an account of what happened during this important period of time, for my children to read and understand when they grew older. That conversation with our son came to my mind after seeing the results on Election Day.

Although it is difficult for me to analyze how children really felt during this whole period or what it was they thought was going on, I am sure they sensed that what was happening was different and exciting. In recognition of this “child’s-eye view,” I include below my son’s speech from his Wax Museum performance. At a time when having the first African-American presidential candidate was the center of discussion all across the world, picking Barack Obama as the character he represented at the Wax Museum seemed to make my son feel the weight of expectation and responsibility associated with it. This was reflected in the extra care he took to prepare and rehearse for the presentation.

…It was November 4, 2008, the U.S Presidential Election Day. After spending a long and tiresome day canvassing in Alexandria, Virginia and knocking on over 200 doors, I came back home to watch as results from key battle states trickled in bit by bit. After a few agonizing hours, major network news channels projected Barack Obama to be the winner of the 2008 presidential election.

Every TV channel was showing the reaction of his supporters to the news from all over the country – disbelief, joy, celebration. Those of us who spent the week before the election volunteering for the campaign at the Bethesda, Maryland’s grassroots office had been told that plans were being made for volunteers to follow up on the election results and possibly celebrate the victory together at the Marriot Hotel in North Bethesda. At home, my family and friends felt claustrophobic trying to deal with all these emotions, so we decided to join the army of volunteers. As we waited for Obama’s victory speech to start, at 11:43 PM EST, my Blackberry buzzed, alerting me to an incoming email. Expecting it to be from friends sharing what was happening, I looked down and saw the subject and sender. Even though I had become used to receiving emails from the campaign, this one caught me by surprise. The address line read “Barack Obama,” the subject, “How this happened.” The message was sent to thank his supporters and let them know that all of this would not have happened without them. I had always marveled at his campaign’s strategy to inform, recruit and mobilize grassroots supporters – the way they deftly used technology to make millions feel that their contribution was not only welcome, but crucial to the success of the project. To me, receiving this message shortly before his victory speech was a demonstration of discipline at its best. Even though I was one of millions of supporters receiving this same centrally distributed message, its content and timing were enough to make me feel like it was sent especially to me.

After reading the email, I paused for a few moments to consider the level of forethought and coordination that had gone into this campaign, which was being executed as planned. In this fever–pitched state of euphoria, the President–elect was reaching out to grassroots supporters, even before he went out to deliver his victory speech.

On election eve, a friend and I were just two of the 95,000 people who waited hours to attend Obama’s last election rally in Manassas, Virginia. The gate opened at 5:00 PM and while we were awaiting the candidate’s arrival, I met one lady who said she was born and raised in Jamestown, Virginia. She drove three hours to attend the rally and was going back home the next day to cast her vote for Obama. She added, “As a native Jamestown resident I live between two powerful events that started in my hometown and became major milestones in our country’s history – good and not good. Part of me feels good that it was in Jamestown that in the early 1600s, the work of the U.S. government had begun with the first assembly of representatives ? what is now the Congress. It was also in the same town that the dark part of our history began: slavery."

She also said, “I will do my best to put our town’s history to rest by voting for the first African-American candidate. For the 400th anniversary of this historic town, I had worked hard with my colleagues from Jamestown and across the state to push the state legislature to pass a formal expression of ‘profound regret’ for Virginia’s leading role in African-American slavery.”

After the rally, on my way home I started wondering what had happened to Jamestown and later learned this: Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement, founded in 1607 in what is now the United States of America. It was in Jamestown that in 1619, the first 20 African slaves were sold by a Dutch merchant. Michael Boschloss in his Newsweek article “March to Freedom” wrote, “These men, women and children from southwest Africa, sent by Rolfe into the tobacco fields, were indentured servants. But we now remember them as the tragic vanguard of millions of African-American slaves who flowed into America.”

On Election Day that lady may have been one of the 1,263 Jamestown B District 01 voters who gave Obama a 7% lead in that part of the city and a 6% lead in the state, changing the Virginia map from red to blue. She was a part of history that concluded the chapter which started 389 years ago in her home town.

… After the ceremony and the inauguration speech, I started the long and frigid journey home. At the Metro Center station, I met two ladies in their early or mid-60s; one was in a wheelchair and the other was pushing her. The platform was crowded with people going back home and it was difficult for them to get into the carriage. I realized that without assistance, they might be there for some time, so I helped them board. While we were on the train I asked myself what made these two ladies come to this ceremony in spite of the January Washington cold and the physical condition of at least one of them. I wanted to know more and asked them if they had a few minutes to talk. We got off the train together and the few minutes I had requested turned into a few hours’ discussion at a nearby Starbucks coffee shop. Kay and Barbara had come from Virginia Beach and were staying at a hotel in D.C., which had been booked a day after the election. They seemed to have known each other for a long time, but, as they later explained, they had traveled a different path to get to this day.

Kay was born and raised in Virginia Beach and her father was, in his time, one of the few dentists in the city who had black and white patients. She grew up in a segregated city where her father was asked to provide a separate waiting room for white and black patients, something he refused to do. She grew up seeing his business suffer because of his refusal to segregate his waiting room. Rather, he kept his oath and values as a doctor that obliged him to treat everyone equally. Since the age of nine, she actively participated in human rights movements, voter rights, women’s rights, and other key issues, and traveled the country from coast to coast to share her experience and values, and to campaign for various state officials.

Barbara, a native New Yorker born in the mid 1940s, was the daughter of a public health commissioner. She grew up being taught about the great American values both at school and at home. She said “My father, who also taught at Columbia University School of Epidemiology, had students from all over the world and each summer would invite a group out to our home in Yonkers. My ‘awakening,’ if that’s what one would call it, came as I grew up and realized that most of the world, including our USA, did not live up to my ideals and it was that contrast between how I was raised and the reality of the world at large that triggered my involvement in civil rights, women’s rights, peace and justice issues and animal and environmental issues. With Kay, because she grew up in the South, the disparities were much more obvious much more quickly!”.

When I asked her if it was difficult for her to stay out in the cold the whole day, she continued, “I have a history with multiple sclerosis (diagnosed in 1972) and I rented a wheelchair because of the extensive amount of walking and standing that I knew would be required while in D.C. for the inauguration weekend. My balance is not great as well. It was a huge help while up there but in my chiropractic office I use a cane.”

These two ladies had a great sense of humor and determination. We ended up discussing their active participation in their communities, volunteering in various organizations to help register voters, educating others on the value of tolerance, inclusion and living consciously to preserve the planet and the environment. After talking to them I thought that this campaign had brought out the best in, and reflected the true nature and values of many Americans from all walks of life. It has also given hope to those who were disfranchised and disappointed in the way politics has been handled for the last few decades…

As part of volunteer Team 22 you are assigned to Mall Perimeter grid 4, location 12, near the Lincoln Memorial. You will start at 5:00 AM in the dark and cold on Jan. 20 and work until 3:00 PM in the daylight … scan all of the people around you. Keep a smile on your face and look people right in the eye … When you see someone who has a problem, speak to them, tell them you’re a volunteer with the Inauguration Committee and ask if there is anything you can do to help … Nobody will be coming to the Mall to see us volunteering. They come to see Obama. Although we work amidst the crowd, we should be invisible.

… These are excerpts from the email message I got from my team captain a few days before the inauguration. On Saturday, at the training center, we were told that over 87,000 people had applied to volunteer and only 15,000 were selected. I was amazed by the number of people who wanted to be part of this movement. Despite the freezing temperature, the 14 hours I spent on the Mall were full of good memories. On Inauguration Day, I left home at 3:45 AM. The Metro service started at 4:00 AM but when I reached the station, the line had reached long past the main gate. The police and Metro officials guided us as we entered the subway platform. The first train, with eight cars, filled up a few minutes after the gate opened and at every stop on our way we saw crowds of people waiting on the platforms to get onto the trains.

A few minutes before 5:00 a.m., I reached my post between the Lincoln and Second World War memorials. Most of the members of Team 22 were there. The Captain introduced himself and asked us to introduce ourselves and tell the team where we had come from. There were three from Texas, one from California, two from the Carolinas, one from New Jersey and the rest of us were local from Maryland, Virginia and the District. Those who came from out of state had booked hotels right after the election, wanting to be part of history and to be able to volunteer. We all had foot and hand warmers that were effective for more than eight hours and we were bundled up to survive the bitter cold. The Captain mentioned that if the cold got unbearable, we should either go to the lower level of the Lincoln Memorial or to one of the tents available for volunteers.

After a while, as I noticed that the water in the Reflecting Pool had frozen and when I started to feel the cold in my bones, I asked myself if I would survive another 10 hours. Hearing the stories of my other team members, however, made me feel bad. There were folks with diabetes, arthritis and others who were much older than I, and they were all determined to endure the cold to help others and celebrate this historic moment. I told myself that I should be the last person to worry about making it through the day.

“Good morning! Welcome to the Mall. This is a good day, a great day” was the message we were using after we were dispatched to our posts. By 11:20 AM, I had greeted countless numbers of people from all backgrounds and who came from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Nigeria, South Africa, Germany, Norway, the Philippines, the Netherlands, Syria and more.

I also met an African-American lady in her mid-60s who had brought with her a photo album filled with pictures of her deceased family members, including her parents, grandparents, husband and cousins. She said she wanted to hug them and tell them what happened today. She also said that she had taken the same album to the voting booth back in November, naming each one of them and telling them that she finally voted for the first African-American candidate.

…For most people, the Iowa caucus was won in the weeks and days right before the election. However, in actuality, Obama won Iowans’ hearts and minds many months before the election, by engaging them wherever it was convenient for them. While the leading contenders spent their time talking to reporters and attending public events, Obama chose to travel an average of at least five days a week. As shown in the diagram below, starting from his first announcement of his candidacy in February 11, 2007 to the Iowa Caucuses in January 2008, Barack held over 175 events covering all the counties of that state. When we do the math, over an 11-month period, he would have held an average of four events per week. In addition to Obama’s visits, the campaign offices distributed over 30 strategic locations bombarded Iowans by phone, mail and door-to-door campaigning.

LEADERSHIP – I (inspire)
For one day on November 4th, I would have given anything to be an American. Having a politician of this caliber on the ballot is a gift and I believe,the envy of the Canadian people in the wake of Harper’s success.Obama is an individual with unmistakable promise, vision and idealism.

What inspired Christopher and thousands of students around the world scanning the Internet and glued to the TV set to watch the election process? What inspired Amanda Jones, the 109-year-old daughter of a slave, to cast her vote for Obama? What made 200,000 Berliners at the Siegessäule monument give Obama a standing ovation?

What inspired hundreds of volunteers in a small grassroots office in Bethesda, Maryland to wait for hours to make phone calls because there were not enough computers and telephones to accommodate them? What inspired me and thousands of other people to wait five hours in the bitter February cold to get into the Comcast Center to hear Obama’s speech on the eve of the Chesapeake primary?

What made thousands of Obama’s supporters drive across the nation to attend his Denver convention speech? What made over 87,000 people apply to volunteer at the inaugural ceremony? What made over 1.5 million people pour into the capital in bitter January cold to watch the inauguration ceremony?

The answers to these questions may be different for different people, but for me it is that Obama has the gift of inspiring and uplifting people, leading them to a place where they can believe in themselves again. He gave the nation hope that better times were possible and that, united with others, they could improve their lives and regain their dignity. —-

… Two days after the inauguration, while I was revising this manuscript, I got an email from President Obama thanking all volunteers who were at the Mall. On one level, the email did not surprise me, as I had already gotten used to the campaign’s effectiveness in acknowledging and notifying stakeholders of the project’s progress. However, on another level, I was surprised to receive it, because I presumed that everyone in the new administration, including our new president, would be busy addressing the country’s significant problems. I thought they would not have time to send this email. I was wrong!

What I can finally say to my kids, and possibly their kids, is that “I was there on the Mall witnessing history being made.”