(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . IAN:Thursday 8/8/2024 Ireland and Obama 2008 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-08-07 In 2008, my mother fulfilled one of my father’s last requests. That was to take my sister, my daughter and me to Ireland, land of some of our ancestors. We took a guided tour, the only way to go as far as we were concerned. As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care! IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news! Monday Youffraita Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac Wednesday Pam from Calif Thursday art ah zen Friday FloridaSNMOM Saturday FloridaSNDad Sunday loggersbrat This is not about Ireland other than to say it was an amazing journey and the last trip my mother took. I will write about it one day. The picture on the front is of the beach rocks on Galway Bay, They were the most amazing colors. I should have taken some but I left them for others to admire. Lil Zen and I were allowed to ride horses on the beach with the stable crew and take them to the ferry, where they were taken out to pasture for rest and grazing for the weekend. But that story is for another time. This story is about Obama, my mama, and how the future turned out. We arrived shortly after George Mitchell had been a peace envoy to Northern Ireland. Clinton and Mitchell were loved in Ireland and Bush was reviled but there was peace. In this atmosphere, we were hearing news from home about Obama making inroads to becoming elected president in the US. My mother was afraid that white people would never vote for him or that they would murder him if he won. She was afraid of civil unrest. We younger ones were all for him but had the same fears. I was in high school when Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and saw the bloody results from the southern states. I remember the bloody march over the bridge and the dead Civil Rights workers, murdered and buried in a dam. We did not have much hope he would win but we were willing to vote for Obama. He won with almost 70 million votes, 365 electoral votes. It changed America. That he succeeded in serving two terms and is revered by millions today is a testament to his courage and determination. His term led to the backlash by those who stayed true to their hate and bigotry. They, with the help of Russia cheating, brought tfg to power. But, but, but… That has been one path that has led us to today with Kamala and Walz having a real chance to win and make new strides toward a better society and the betterment of the lives of so many Americans. A woman of color, a folksy but extremely sharp rural gentleman are carrying the hopes that I have seen before, when we elected Obama, our first black president. I am convinced that we can do this. Once again, we can defeat racists and haters to bring change to our discourse, change for the better. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/8/7/2257892/-IAN-Thursday-8-8-2024-Ireland-and-Obama-2008?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/