In the end, the race that was going to be “too close to call,” wasn’t even all that close.

KEVIN ‘CHILL’ HEARD
Managing Editor

In our lifetime – one more time!

Barack Obama has been reelected to presidency of the United States of America. So went Ohio, so went the presidency. If we heard it once, we heard it a thousand times. And true to form, Ohio’s reputation as a bellwether state holds up as former Michigan Governor Willard Mitt Romney met the same fate as Senator John McCain before him.

But, the road to being “President of Ohio” was paved with potholes. Voter suppression tactics – both private and political – reared their ugly heads time and time again.

Let’s take a brief look back on how we got to this point:

The night of Tuesday, July 27, 2004, would begin an unlikely chain of events that would changeAmericaforever. This was the night that a virtually unknown Illinois State Senator and candidate for U.S. Senate gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.

He introduced himself to a national audience …

“My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack. His father, my grandfather, was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.”

Needless to say, how could we have seen this coming? We couldn’t. Obama wasn’t “just” an African-American, he was an “actual African American.”

From there, Barack Obama was on a non-stop collision course with history.

In early February of 2007 – on the very site whereLincolndelivered his Civil War infused “House Divided” speech – Senator Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency of theUnited States. With almost all politicos recognizing Obama’s tremendous upside, most thought it was too soon for the one-term senator to jump into the race for presidency, especially against the juggernaut that was Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Then,Iowa happened! The idea that White voters could not vote for a Black candidate had been forever laid to rest. Then, finally, after an often embittered battle,Clintoncalled it a wrap and threw her support behind Barack Obama.

With a virtual rout of war hero Senator McCain, which included the Sarah Palin sideshow, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States and America’s first Black president (that we can count). With First Lady Michelle Obama at his side, the first family – daughters Malia and Sasha, and grandma Marian Robinson – the Obama’s struck a regal stature.

However, President Obama’s honeymoon was short lived. It became all too evident that the Republican Party in the House and Senate had no intention of hugging up to the new president or any of his lofty “hope and change” ideas. Despite the party of “Hell No,” President Obama made his mark spearheading several high profile laws, appointments and military actions. At the top of that list was Healthcare Reform, the Auto Industry Bailout, Supreme Court appointments of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor and the elimination of Osama bin Laden.

Obama’s road to reelection against Gov. Romney had its own highlights; including a first round debate fumble by the president, allowing Romney backers hope for a way back in after the “47 percent” faux pas. But, the president was steadfast in his refutation of Romney’s many “untruths,” which Vice President Joe Biden referred to as “Malarky.” A mix of bad moves by Romney included a very questionable ad – running in Ohio at that – implying that Chrysler had moved Jeep production to China after the Obama bailout. Romney’s assertion eventually caused the car company to publicly chastise the candidate and may have been the governor’s self-inflicted deathblow.

In the end, the race that was going to be “too close to call,” wasn’t even all that close. The people have spoken loud and in a voice that may carry throughout Capitol Hill and the Ohio Statehouse if the Republicans don’t change their partisan ways. Let’s see what 2014 brings.  

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