Not only are we contesting the McSame/Failin ticket in enormous numbers,not only are we working for Obama but we are also working to elect down ballot Democrats.
For that alone, I am proud of my fellow Texas Democrats.
But, there is much more for my fellow Texans to take pride in on this historic occasion.
One of our more conflicted Presidents, a failure at war as much as Bush and a moving inspirational figure at the same time, Lyndon B. Johnson famously forecast that the Democratic Party had lost the south for a generation after the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
Richard Nixon came to power on the Southern Strategy. Every Republican afterward had a Willie Horton, Welfare Queen or other code term for black people.
Lee Atwater publicly admitted you could not yell NIGGER,NIGGER any more and had to use these dog whistle terms.
We did in deed lose the south for a generation or more.
In the youth of Barack Obama, Madelyn Dunham would have had the same difficulty as anyone in 'her situation.' A black grandchild in a white family would have drawn huge attention, not all of it flattering.
But, because of the vision of Lyndon B. Johnson and his vision of the new American dream, Barack Obama came to typify our dream. A kid whose mother needed public aid rises to become the President of The United States. Only in America could that dream have been realized. And, because of Lyndon B. Johnson's and Martin Luther King's dreams, and the goodwill of Americans tested over the forty years we spent wandering in that political wilderness, could the story of Barack Obama occur.
I should also mention that another President from Texas, George W. Bush, is also a contributor to the Obama story. Without the disaster of his Presidency exposing the Republican lies to the bright light of day, it might have continued. Every Democrat in Texas needs to construct a shrine to 'Shrub', as Molly Ivins and Ann Richards labeled him.
McSame may carry Texas today. We have worked hard to deny him that. But, because of Lyndon B. Johnson we can take pride in our part in the Barack Obama success today.