The Presidential elections of 2008 may very well go into history as the greatest event in American elections. Even if candidate Obama wasn't your first option, even if you were a Republican, you have to admit it was an awesome feeling to see an African American become the most powerful leader in the World.
For the sake of full disclosure (or as the latest fad demands: transparency), I was a diehard Hilary supporter- I still wear my "I Love Hilary" shirt, and with exuberant pride. So you can definitely rule out that I was ever an Obamaniac. But to paraphrase the words of a dear friend involved in this much deeper than I'll ever be, when all is said and done, we'll all rally behind the one nominee. And so, without losing my regard for Hilary as the best possible option for the Presidency, I gave my support to the one I considered the second best.
While my regard for President Obama is growing, it seems that his star may be diminishing with the news media and those "professional Democrats" that melted before Obama the candidate. But I'm most surprised by the Obamaniacs- those ruthless Obama supporters that I spent countless hours fighting in the blogs during the primaries. They swore that Obama was the change you could believe in; the one that would bring America to its glory days... new glory days.
It appears that the intense primary fighting has left them tired; and all the high expectations have given rise to disappointment. Surely, someone must have told them that their support, and even input, would be required as the months passed by, and would become most dire as the mid-term elections approached. Have they become silent and apathetic? Have they gone back to their textbooks and to drinking lattes?
Perhaps they thought that their candidate would get into the White House and, like a Christ cleaning the temple, would lash out left and right turning tables, driving lobbyists from Capitol Hill, and breaking corruption against the marble floor of the holy ground on which he walks. Did they really think the road to change would be smooth and with an end in sight from the beginning?
Did they think that their support would need not go beyond the day they voted him into office?
Do African Americans feel that Obama sold them out? Did they expect he would do more for them? Did they expect that Obama would introduce reparations and act in other ways to benefit only African Americans and with complete disregard for Whites?
So whether his supporters had unrealistic expectations of Obama the candidate or themselves, or whether they were ignorant about the role they were taking on, the truth is that President Obama needs them in order for the Senate and the House to, not only remain under the Democrats, but to become even stronger. We are still at the beginning of that "change we can believe in". The road ahead will be long, and even arduous, but to expect more than what has been accomplished is to be as ridiculous as those conservatives that insist that Obama caused our current financial predicament or that he started the war in Afghanistan.
If the mid-term elections don't serve to increase the number of Democrats in the House and the Senate, then I will be sold on the idea that Obama's supporters were nothing more than latte drinking maniacs who were never interested in leaving a footprint in history, but were content with a mere smudge on the ground.
If last election was a huge upset for Republicans, you have the opportunity to make this mid-term election an even greater disappointment for them. So grab your latte, get on the blogs, and start supporting your Democratic candidates. And once you have voted them into office, keep reminding them why you voted for them.