Dear President Obama, please sacrifice first.

The Grant Park crowd was electric, and probably not in a mood to think. Jesse Jackson forgot all about his arts & crafts endeavors and Oprah cried on people she didn't know. People traveled from all over the country to hear President-Elect Barack Obama's historic victory speech on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 4. Amid all the excitement and emotion, the President-Elect snuck in these five sentences:

"This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other."

I let this simmer for a week in its rosy and patriotic goodness. Now, I want to know what this sacrifice means for me and everyone else living in this country. Can't I argue that things are bad enough as is? As a journalism major, my job market absolutely sucks and is probably never going to get better. My mom has been teaching in D.C. and Maryland schools for over 20 years. You know what the deal is with her profession. My dad worked for 40 years, retired, and now has to pull teeth to stay on top of his pensions... Now I don't expect Obama to play God when he's in the White House, therefore I don't expect government to fix every problem out there, but anytime a presidential candidate tells me to "put away the video games," "turn off the television," and "read to my kids," I think he's fair game to criticize on anything.

As college students, we pay through the nose for tuition and other expenses, and nationally, tuition rates increased by over 6% between 2007 and 2008. This may be heresy to say here, but GMU President Alan Merten has been vocal in his support for tuition increases here, which hover between 8 and 10 percent a year. There's all this, and then we work, leaving us striving for money (much of which we blow on taxes), and devoid of time. What can we sacrifice?

My answer is time. We can find the time to volunteer for good causes, go to a help the homeless walk-a-thon, organize a neighborhood cleanup once in awhile. We can certainly do that. I'm not a cold, heartless devil. Sacrificing is a good thing.

Then why does Obama's request seem so hypocritical to me?

• Because after the government put together an $85 billion bailout package for AIG, executives from that company went on a week-long $440,000 vacation.
• Because in September, the three major automakers received a $25 billion government subsidy to stay alive, and now they want $50 billion more.
• Because on March 21, 2007, Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson wrote: "It is a classic sign of the times that The Washington Post tells us how many of our 23,400 wounded troops recuperate at Walter Reed Army Medical Center with cockroaches at their feet as Americans plunk down $2.5 billion for office pools for college basketball's March Madness."
• Because the city of Washington can afford a $650 million baseball stadium and still has one of the worst public school systems in the country.

I'm selfish. I also feel rotten. Why do I have to sacrifice first? Do I owe my country more than it owes me, or is it vice versa? And what good is anything I do if the powerful higher-ups are just squandering it away?

Do you need an incentive to begin sacrificing more? How skeptical or optimistic are you about the idea of sacrifice, and what concerns you about it? Does the idea of sacrifice go beyond the relatively small amount one person can do?

Give me some examples of sacrifices you can make.

And lastly, to everyone, nice job on all the great blog posts throughout the semester!

It’s over. The longest and most expensive presidential campaign in U. S. history ended last night with Barack Obama’s clear victory, both in the electoral and popular vote. His victory did not come easy; he had to outfight formidable opponents in Hillary Clinton and John McCain and persuade Americans that he had the ability to lead them in tough times. But the precision and professionalism with which he and his advisors ran his campaign made him the decisive winner and gave America its first African American president. It was a stunning moment, especially for people like me who vividly remember that less than fifty years ago, segregation was legal in the South and de facto segregation was pervasive in the North. Barack Obama’s victory does not mark the end of racism in the United States, but I think that it marks the beginning of the end.

This election galvanized voters of all parties. Everywhere I went yesterday, people sported “I Voted” stickers and were eager to discuss the election. My husband and I went to West Springfield High School at 7:15 AM to vote and found that the line was already snaking its way out of the building. But despite the early hour and the long line, people were upbeat and talkative, energized (in part) by the coffee and baked goods volunteers were selling outside, but mostly by a keen awareness that we were taking part in a historic election. Our long line moved swiftly, and in less than an hour, my husband and I were inside the school and voting. The use of scannable paper ballots made it possible for more people to vote at once, and this new voting method kept the line moving and frustration low. What about you? What happened when you went to vote?

On Mason’s campus, the weather was dreary and damp, but spirits were high.

Student Government ran vans to the Woodson High School polling place, and volunteers promoted this service by becoming “human advertisements.”

Rain apparently, does not damper revolutions!


This guy stole my heart!

Our university was not without its own drama. Yesterday morning, a hacker broke into the Provost’s email account and sent out a fake message announcing that the election had been moved to November 5th. Rumors circulated that Mason students who voted could lose their financial aid.

But such lame attempts proved ineffective against the smart and savvy youthful voters who went to the polls in record numbers. Your demographic – voters between the ages of 18 and 25 – voted overwhelmingly for Obama and helped power him to victory. Now it’s your turn to act upon that mandate and consider how you will help him guide our nation toward economic recovery, energy reform, and improved security both at home and abroad.

How will you meet the challenge Obama made to all Americans in his victory speech last night that change can’t happen without “a new spirit of patriotism, a new spirit of sacrifice?” How has this election influenced your outlook on the future and the role you will play in it as a working professional?