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shawnkopelakis · 7 years

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Thankful for These Past 8 Years

It was over eight years ago, early November in 2008. My family was in Florida on vacation. Our kids were two years old and eight months old and this was the first trip with both of them to see the rest of the family back home. My boys were the stars of the trip and took up all the attention with grandparents, aunts and uncles, leaving me time for something else. I spent a portion of two days knocking on doors in Brevard County canvassing for a presidential hopeful I believed could bring us hope and change. Now eight years later, I’m so proud and honored to have been a part of Barack Obama’s journey.

I’ve always been a political junkie. I was born three months after Richard Nixon’s resignation. My first memory of politics was election night in 1980 when the family TV showcased the unveiling of the Reagan Revolution with Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter. Little did I know, at almost six years old, just how those ultra-conservative policies being ushered in would shape my beliefs and passions for life in fighting against them.

I was in fifth grade during the next presidential election and I remember that we followed it very closely in my favorite elementary school teacher Mrs. Neuenschwander’s class. I was a supporter of Walter Mondale, but much like the rest of the country, most everyone else supported Reagan. My freshman year of high school in 1988 saw Michael Dukakis (a fellow Greek, yes!) take his turn dashing my political hopes and dreams.

By the time 1992 rolled around, I was old enough to know more about the whole election process. This was the first time I was really aware of the primary system and thanks again to two great high school teachers, Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Liebman, I felt very confident in my knowledge of the issues and the candidates. In the primary, I was a huge supporter of Jerry Brown. This was my first taste of a grassroots campaigner, someone who seemed to be way outside the establishment, fighting for the poor and the under-served. Once again, I picked the losing horse as Brown eventually fell by the wayside to Bill Clinton (amazing that some 18 years later, I’d cast a vote for Brown as Governor of California!). I arrived at the University of Florida that fall and regrouped to support Clinton. It would be my first taste of victory on the Presidential stage but it was somewhat bittersweet. My November 11th birthday meant that I was eight days shy of being eligible to vote in the ‘92 election.

It wasn’t until 1996 when I was nearly 22 years old, a veteran of watching four previous elections, that I was finally able to vote. I remember the church polling place off Williston Road where I punched the ballot and the joy at displaying the “I Voted” sticker on my shirt. The Clinton years from 1993-2001 were as influential as any time in my life. They included my college years, my graduation, the formation of lifelong friendships that are like a brotherhood and my big move to California. They cemented my core beliefs in what our government and country should be, a place of hope and opportunity for all citizens, not just the rich or the white or the male.

I moved to California in March of 2000 amid the campaign between George W. Bush and Al Gore. I registered to vote in my new state despite knowing that my vote was now essentially meaningless on the national scale and then watched in horror (and some humor) at the embarrassment that was the Florida vote and recount. My one vote back in my home state would not have made the difference but I still felt ashamed and guilty nonetheless. After Bush’s disastrous eight years in office, I knew that I had to do more next time around.

Which leads me back to why I wanted to write something today in the first place. Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was the most electric and exhilarating campaign perhaps in American history. The young people, the diversity, the embrace of ALL was intoxicating. I had to be a part of it and I knew that Florida might once again be the crucial state. The polls, which I now obsessively tracked every day, were close, especially in Florida. So as we planned when to take our boys on their first trip to see most of our family, I thought about the election and whether or not I could help. We booked the trip to spend Halloween through election day in the Sunshine State, cast our own ballots early (mostly so we could make sure to vote against the hateful Prop 8 since we knew Obama would easily win CA) and then I reached out to the campaign to offer my services. I spent portions of two days walking the streets in mostly-white, mostly-conservative Melbourne. The campaign had a comprehensive list of undecided and independent voters so I wasn’t necessarily approaching any hostile doors. And yet, as I walked by one house, an older white man asked me what I was doing. I said I was talking to people about the election and Barack Obama. He replied to me that he was voting for George Wallace (the infamous Alabama segregationist and racist). I didn’t flinch and kept knocking on doors knowing that some people just weren’t going to even consider a black President.

On the night of November 4, 2008, my wife Holly, her mother Lori and I were glued to the television as the election results were coming in. When Florida was called for Obama, I burst into tears knowing he had won the election. I was so proud of my country and my fellow citizens. It seemed like we had accomplished something so many had never thought possible and that now, we could potentially and truly change the world.

Alas, these past eight years haven’t gone exactly to plan. The obstruction against Obama began almost immediately, a lot of it fueled by racist undertones. He hasn’t been able to accomplish everything he wanted and a lot of what we hoped for. And there are certainly aspects of his presidency like the increase of the surveillance state that I do not agree with.

But despite the least productive Congress in history, one hellbent on only denying Obama any “victory”, the President was able to enact great, historic measures. He ended the Great Recession and saved our economy from the brink of disaster. Employment is way down with the longest streak of net job creation in our nation’s history. Obamacare, as Americans are finally starting to realize now that it is being threatened, is a positive first step toward ensuring all Americans have affordable access to healthcare. It was a landmark accomplishment 40 years in the making, a plan that was originally proposed by conservative Republicans only for them to turn against it once Obama endorsed it. Other accomplishments include criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing our prison state and ending the racial bias in arrests and sentences. Obama’s actions on green energy and climate change, marriage equality and LGBT rights, nuclear non-proliferation and the deal with Iran are all transcendent acts that have made us a better, stronger nation. Oh and did you forget he oversaw the killing of Osama Bin Laden?

Regardless of all those acts, the thing that made Obama so special to so many was his grace, his humility, his empathy and his compassion. I’ll never forget his tearful speech after Newtown. In the face of constant attacks, some to his face (”You lie”) and many behind his back (racist jokes and cartoons about him and his family shared via email and social media by disgusting, pathetic people), Obama never flinched. He was so eloquent in every speech, so charming and funny in every public appearance, so cool and hip in every interaction on talk shows and online skits with celebrities, musicians and athletes. He was a President who valued intellectual curiosity and never felt threatened by others, to the point of putting known adversaries like Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates in his cabinet.

When I think of President Obama, I’m going to think of all of these things and more. He was the coolest dude on the planet and also one of the nerdiest, something I’ve tried to balance throughout my entire life. When he said earlier this week that “it has been the honor of my life to serve you”, my heart surged. I thought to myself “No Mr. President, it has been the honor of our lives to have you serve us”.

On this last day of your historic and successful presidency, thank you Mr. President for everything.

#ThanksObama

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