Shortly after Barack Obama was announced the president-elect of the United
States, a large crowd gathered outside of the White House to celebrate. The
casual victory party closed a nearly two-year campaign season with chants,
embraces and high fives. From the White House, Ruth Reader reports.
Obama supporters chanted
along with the jarring sound of car horns in praise of Barack Obama's election
to be president of the United States. People from all around Washington met at
the White House to express their enthusiasm.
"It just shows how much
power each person's vote has," one Obama supporter said. "I think people are
going to the polls en mass and, hopefully, this is something that will continue
for elections to come."
Mr. Obama is the first African American to become
president of the United States. For many in the African American community, his
victory struck an emotional cord.
"We are definitely witnessing history
right now," another supporter said. "I feel like I honestly, when they announced
that Barack Obama was going to be the president of the United States I honestly
definitely felt like crying. I felt like it's a movement as far as the United
States the fact that they were going to elect a black President. I feel like it
makes a huger amount of strides for us."
Although young people made up
the majority of those collecting in front of the White House, stroller-pushing
mothers and fathers made up a significant part of this diverse crowd. This
Virginia woman came into Washington with her three children and husband, because
she says they simply had to be there.
"I came to the White House because
there was nowhere else I could be to celebrate this moment," she said. "We live
20 miles from here and we jumped in the car when we saw the 297 votes and I just
couldn't imagine being anywhere else."
Her 11-year old son also felt
enthusiastic about Mr. Obama's win, despite the fact that he is too young to
vote.
"I'm happy that Barack Obama is in the White House now, because
nobody never thought this was gonna happen and it's amazing," he
said.
Hundreds of people gathered in front of the White House to
celebrate a historic moment and the promise of change.
གཟའ་ཉི་མ། ༢༠༢༣/༠༣/༢༦