http://www.blackamericaweb.com/content/commentary-job-well-done-mr-president
CHICAGO – In the days leading up to Election Day, a friend told me that God wasn’t finished with President Barack Obama because he has four more years of important work to do in the White House.
I believe she was right. And I also believe that many African Americans feel the same way.
Why? Because “Barack” means “Blessed One.”
Millions of Americans – a determined multi-cultural coalition – returned Obama to the White House for a second term Tuesday and embraced Obama’s message of hope and resilience in the face of economic adversity.
“Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come,” Obama told 10,000 supporters at McCormick Place Convention Center in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois.
Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney decisively with 303 electoral votes, compared to 206 for Romney. Obama also won the popular vote.
It was a phenomenal accomplishment for an African American to win two presidential elections in a deeply divided nation.
“Whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you. I have learned from you. And you’ve made me a better president,” Obama said. “And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead.”
The president won key battleground states including Colorado, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. And he won these states – and others – with strong support from African Americans, Latinos, whites, young voters and women who stood in extremely long lines to cast their ballots.
Tuesday’s election for Obama and the Democratic Party was not just about an election, but it was a continuation of a movement that started during his historic election in 2008.
“We are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation,” Obama told the crowd. “The best is yet to come.”
It’s a movement of hope that continues with an African American doorman of a Chicago hotel who said he’s motivated to work harder because of Obama; or the black woman serving sandwiches in a deli who said her son is turning his life around because of the president’s leadership; and the Arab cab driver who said Obama was an inspiration to people a world away.
A year ago, Jim Messina, the Obama campaign manager, told me that Obama would win re-election in large part because of a solid ground game that Democrats put in place all across the country.
It was a ground game that buried Romney.
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