“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Martin Luther King, 1963

I drank quite a lot of Scotch last night so it’s all a bit of a blur after Obama won Ohio, that’s when I knew he was on his way to victory. The one thing that really stuck in my mind though was seeing Jesse Jackson crying his eyes out, this a guy who was standing next to Martin Luther King when he was shot so I can only imagine the emotion he was feeling.

When I uploaded this song yesterday I was worried that I was counting my chickens before they hatched, I’ve had enough elections break my heart in the past not to get too confident (I’m looking at you Neil Kinnock and John Kerry) but as Obama himself might say, sometimes you just have to believe.

Download: We’re A Winner – The Impressions (mp3)

Anyway, now that’s finally over I can get back to doing some actual work, including this damn blog.

Not wanting to invite a barrage of nasty comments from the right wing loons in this country I was going to stay away from the election this year but I came to the conclusion that I just can’t ignore history when it’s happening around me. Or I hope it is if America does the right thing today and makes Barack Obama it’s first black President. So be a part of history, go and vote if you’re able.

Because of my love of soul music I became interested in the history of the Civil Rights movement in America and actually wrote my college thesis about the links between the two so I know a little bit about how much African-Americans have had to struggle to get to this point, so if he wins tonight I’ll be crying tears of joy and thinking of all the people who fought (and died) to make it possible.

The obvious musical choice today would have been “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke but I felt like something a bit more upbeat.

Download: Young, Gifted and Black – Bob & Marcia (mp3)

But really, his skin colour is almost beside the point, he’s simply the best man for the job. And how great would it be to have a President who digs John Coltrane?