By Neil Foote

A year ago, several hundred thousand people of all races, creeds, colors and economic backgrounds – crammed into Chicago’s Grant Park to witness history. During the cold, crisp and unbelievably pleasant November evening, the aura of anticipation was unreal – and surreal. There was great hope that America’s voters would elect its first African-American president; there was great anxiety that the massive crowd would turn unruly if the Democratic nominee did not win.

The result: A joyous, emotional, tearful evening that demonstrated to the rest of the world that this is an amazing country.

Flash forward one year. And, boy, this has been a tumultuous one. Some might say this has been a disastrous year for Obama – no less any president to take over a country beset by one of its worse recessions, struggling to contain the pandemic of H1N1 and battling to win wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What has gotten loss is the tremendous surge of euphoria and optimism that swept the country on Election Day and right on through Inauguration Day in January. There’s no reason to give President Obama a free pass, but what we must not forget is that this nation lived up to its promise on Election Day last year. That’s the focus of this essay. Stay tuned for a more critical analysis of the media and its coverage of the president, but for now, here are some highlights from American history:

As a public affairs adviser to nationally syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner, I worked with him and his team to coordinate all of his 2008 election activities – from setting up a voter registration hotline to coordinating coverage of the campaign for the radio show and his website. On the weekend before Election Day, Joyner wanted to surprise his wife, fitness guru Donna Richardson Joyner, by taking her on the road to see Obama’s campaign stops in Hammond, Ind. (just outside of Chicago) and Henderson, NV (a suburb of Las Vegas). Within a 24-hour period, we traveled halfway around the country to experience the Obama-mania up close in person.

In Hammond, the crowd had reportedly gathering at a local park noon that day to see the 40-minute speech. We arrived by 8pm, meaning that security had locked down the area very tightly. It Joyner hadn’t rolled down his window to greet an African-American Indiana State trooper who recognized the media personality’s face and waved the car through to media parking. After the speech, Joyner and his wife worked their way through the crowd who were stopping him to take pictures with him. There were the “Obama Twins” – two sisters who had matching T-shirts; the young kids who waived American flags and homemade signs and the octogenarian mom and her 50-something year-old daughter adorned in their Obama t-shirts, buttons and caps.
In Henderson, Nevada, the 10 am morning rally at a local high school had thousands lined up and waiting by 8am. A “Nevada for Change” sign adorned a fence along one side of the bleachers and one group of friends and family stood together to spell, “O-B-A-M-A-0-8-!” Each person had a letter on each t-shirt. Key president adviser David Axelrod arrived with the media buses, and worked his way through the crowd, conducting interviews and greeting campaign volunteers.

On Election Day, the morning began at 4am as Joyner and his producers set up shop for his four-hour, morning drive time show from Obama’s national headquarters on Michigan Avenue. Joyner’s show was the only media outlet allowed to broadcast from the headquarters that morning. The offices were abuzz all day. Most of the young volunteers and staffers worked off desks in an open office setting. Only a few senior people had offices. Everybody was working the phones constantly – making sure whatever voters in specifics cities within specific zip codes were going to vote.

On Election Night at Grant Park, the football field-sized media tent was lined with tables and TV screens. Adjacent to the photographers’ riser, there was an open field that allowed media to go right up to the crowds to interview the people who had gathered in the crowd. At about 10am CST while sitting in the media tent, the networks projected that Ohio and Pennsylvania were going for Obama. At that moment, I did the math: Republican nominee Sen. John McCain could not win. I headed for the media pit adjacent to the crowd. Just as I arrived, the networks declared the results. The ground literally shook as the onlookers roared, cheered, danced, cried and shouted in excitement. My journalistic instincts kicked in: Take pictures, gather audio and capture the raw emotion of the moment.

During that Chicago evening, history was made. America had taken a bold step in electing its first African-American president. Joyner – as did millions of Americans and others around the world – cried. That moment will live on. Perhaps it still has not personally sunk in – even a year later – and maybe it never will.