YES WE DID!!

As Chairman of the Plainfield Democratic Committee, and as a leader in the State of New Jersey, I was asked by the staff of Presidential Elect Barack Obama to speak on his behalf throughout the state, targeting issues and platforms of importance. The entire experience of being in the trenches for OUR new President, as a leader in this great state, put all of my political sacrifices into proper perspective and birthed a new sense of pride to have been a part of this historical Presidential campaign.

The city of Plainfield then added to my speechlessness by having EVERY district vote for Obama in RECORD numbers! The 5,029 newly registered votes, coupled with the record number of people flooding the polls, produced 16,000 voters in Plainfield! Of the 16,000 that voted, 14,498 voted for Obama, while 1,035 voted for McCain. Plainfield gave Barack Obama over 90% of support in terms of percentages.

One of the first phone calls I received on Wednesday morning was from the Obama staff. They called not only to congratulate me in chairing our community’s efforts, but also to applaud and praise our community itself in its POWERFUL message of unity and dedication. They also were astonished by how my efforts rang true and successful throughout the ENTIRE 22nd district. We had volunteers from Plainfield headquarters going into neighboring towns, Scotch Plains, Linden, Rahway, and North Plainfield on behalf of the Obama campaign, inducing record-breaking numbers in support and voting turnout. The numbers clearly speak for themselves.

As I stated Tuesday night at the victory party down at headquarters, the victory in electing Barack Obama President of the United States, is the HIGHLIGHT of my career. There is NOTHING that anyone can say or do to take away from the goals that I set years ago when I first got into politics; a primary one being to make a difference in the political arenas in which I represent. Such a goal was ACCOMPLISHED in working closely with the Obama staff in getting him elected.

One of the things I learned in this election though, is that one can do EVERYTHING the right way and yet still garner negative criticism, even when instances occur that are out my control. For example, the county and state asked members of leadership to send out personal letters, fund them, as well as support ALL Democrats within our respected counties. Unfortunately, some people would like to slant this request in the negative. These sorts of petty issues no longer bother me, nor does the fact that certain parties within our community are PERSISTENT in carrying on with such petty politics. These activities no longer bother me because of the CHANGE that the city of Plainfield, the State of New Jersey, and the entire nation of America has ushered in by electing Barack Obama as President.

During the past two months, I organized, on behalf of the Plainfield Democratic Committee, two very successful rallies for the winning Democratic ticket. I also organized a rally this past Sunday here in Plainfield at the Black United Fund, where at least 400 people came together in means of securing our ‘Get the Vote Out’ Operation. As the numbers do not lie, our operation was a HUGE success.

I am filled with joy and appreciation in witnessing first hand, the team work and unity within our community, as well as the neighboring communities, and would like to personally thank everyone for the determination and poise they showed in getting Barack Obama elected President.

As earlier stated, the results from Tuesday are more important than trying to pick apart the efforts and find something negative, a move attempting to take away from the joy and victory of our effort. Even today when I read the Star Ledger, I was surprised to see a HUGE error in the reporting statistics. Plainfield was the ONLY town in Union County presented in a chart on page 35 in today’s Star Ledger, where the votes for Obama, the 14,498, were put in the McCain column, and the McCain votes, 1,035 were in the Obama column. This misrepresentation can be damaging to our image to readers because it is absolutely false. Therefore, I am curious to see if those negativity-seeking parties will accuse the paper of fraud, or are they going to conduct themselves with the ‘business as usual’ mindset, letting misinformation persist.

One final thought regarding Tuesday’s election results… YES WE CAN! AND YES WE DID! Electing Barack Obama is a huge step in repairing our nation, and the work is only going to begin in January. Let us not become wearing in laboring diligently in positive work, and continue to transcend our nation to the greatness is so honestly deserves!