November 4th, 2008 will forever remain a day to remember, whether its recollection elicits tears of sadness or of joy. At Georgetown, the night was spent by many anxiously tallying electoral votes and confusedly arguing the finer points of the reliability of exit polling. Where I was watching the results, the night ended early when Senator Obama reached 194 electoral votes with California, Washington and Oregon still not reporting. Our host had calculated that if 194 votes were won by the close of certain polls, a Democratic victory would be imminent. But with hanging chads and recounts still clear in our recent memories, we remained calm until CNN approved our excitement with its official projection. Wherever you were and whatever your political persuasion, the day that Barack Hussein Obama was elected president will not be soon forgotten.

Though many know me as an eternal optimist, politics has long been an arena in which even my own unwillingness to acknowledge negative realities has wavered. Instead, when it comes to politicians and elected positions, I am downright cynical. Presidential elections are no different. I am inclined to believe that most candidates for office will do little to change the status quo as established by their predecessors. This mindset is grounded in the broken promises of leaders long past and the unfortunate realities of the game that is politics. Though it may sound like a negative way to view things, I have found it a useful manner to keep propaganda and rhetoric at bay.

But something stirred in me on Tuesday as I watched the telecast of our president-elect onstage in Grant Park in front a massive crowd. As I took in his words and absorbed the moment, I found myself wanting to believe him. Perhaps it is this very inclination created in voters that has become emblematic of Obama’s persona and propelled him to success. The honesty apparent in his words has been substantively absent from the political sphere for quite some time.

Throughout this election season and its preceding campaign, I have managed to remain virtually unpartisan, with little vested interest in either candidate. But the situation never warranted the perennial “lesser-of-two-evils” argument. I wasn’t particularly convinced that either candidate was all that “evil.” The problem was, instead, that I didn’t find either of them convincing altogether. Democrats and Republicans alike had ceased to impress me. But seeing the president-elect’s somber and dignified reaction to the results of what can only be accurately deemed a historic election, I knew that he was my candidate.

However, my pragmatism remains intact. If Obama does not manage to keep all his promises, I won’t be angry, nor will I be surprised. Perhaps his victory in and of itself is enough for the American people and his campaign promises will not be scrutinized as measures of his success.

Yet for all my criticisms of the ambiguous rhetoric of hope and change, for the first time, I am hopeful. I am hopeful that my cynicism will be proven wrong and that as president, Obama will keep the promises I would expect other politicians to break. I am hopeful that he will help solve the problems to which he claims to have the solutions. Finally, I am hopeful that the American people will get the change they desire and so sorely need.

Aakib Khaled is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. He can be reached at khaledthehoya.com. CURA PERSONALIS appears every other Friday.

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