The Beginning of Change

“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you we as a people will get there.”—President-elect Barack Obama victory speech on November 4, 2008

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, around 11 p.m., Democrat Barack Obama's moving acceptance speech acknowledged the fact that he had been elected the 44th President of the United States as well as the first African-American President of the United States. This day wasn't just a victory for Barack Obama, but a victory for the American people.
The 2008 presidential election marked an historic event not only in America’s history but also in the history of African-Americans. Barack Obama’s historic journey to the White House was the beginning of an important change in the country—one that started with him and one that will be carried on by future generations.
Obama has made Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream reality. For many black Americans, Obama’s victory finally broke through the boundaries of racial issues giving hope to not just African-Americans but all Americans.
In winning the election, President-elect Obama accomplished things that no candidate for president had ever done before—he raised a record $700 million in campaign donations, and helped to change America’s political landscape. He won in states that had voted Republican for more than four decades, like Indiana and Virginia, as well as those that had strongly supported his Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, such as Ohio and Florida.

“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.”

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 was the day that America began to change.