Today is a joyous day dear readers! Today is the day that America has lived up to her promise of being the land of opportunity, where anyone can accomplish the things they put their mind to, regardless of their race or religious views, through hard work and undeterred determination.
Today Barack Obama was sworn in as the President of the United. States. Obama is the first African American elected to our highest office. And as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would probably note, Obama is a President that was elected based on the content of his character, not on the color of his skin.
While not everyone voted for Barack Obama to be the 44th President, no one can deny the importance of this moment in the history of the United States of America. After President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, it took over a century for African Americans to be recognized as equal citizens with the signing of the Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
Since then our country has come a long way in race relations. Consider this important fact.
44 years ago, Barack Obama would have had difficulty being able to vote in many states, and the idea of an African American running for President of the United States would have been absurd, if not suicidal. Obama's election shows that America is truly coming of age and is leaving the mistakes and failures of the past behind.
Additionally, the fact that a person with a middle eastern sounding name, and the middle name of Hussein, could be elected as President after seven and a half years of xenophobic hyper-patriotism is also evidence that the American people think more for themselves than the critics in the media give them credit.
Somewhere the champions of freedom and equality like Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson are smiling down on this nation as she moves forward with new promise into the 21st Century.
Yes today is a very historic day. Unfortunately your analysis betrays an obvious liberal slant to your weblog.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed on a vote of 71 -29. Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act 27 -6. Democrats voted for it 44 -23. That means 82% of Republican senators and 65 % of Democratic senators voted for the '64 Civil Rights Act.
The importance of the Republican votes should not be misunderstood. In 1964 it took 67 votes to cut off debate in the Senate. Without Republican support the Civil Rights Act never would have been heard for a vote.
Republican leader Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois held his party together to vote for cloture then to vote to pass the legislation. Republican votes assured passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
You might also want to recall a few other important contributions of modern Republicans in correcting past injustices against black Americans.
It was President Nixon who began Affirmative Action in Philadelphia to stop discrimination against blacks in the construction unions.
It was President Ronald Reagan who signed yesterdays Martin Luther King holiday into law.
It was the first President Bush who appointed the second black Supreme Court Justice. President Clinton in his eight years never nominated a black for the Supreme Court. Neither did the second President Bush but he did appoint the first and the second black Secretary's of State.
We've come a long way. We should all wish our new president well. I just wanted it noted that it was Obama's party that fought for slavery and segregation and that it was Lincoln's party that fought for abolition and equality.
Posted by: The Historian | January 20, 2009 at 04:38 PM