And now, just a little bit, I know him too...

Thank you, my dear kpete...

somebody who sees and hears you, and those tears come
pouring down.

People hold in so much, their whole lives. Hope often seems
too good to be true, and like with a child who's been lost and
scared, when finally found, those tears of relief come tumbling
out, and wash away the fears.

And you expressed it so beautifully too.

Will probably cry if the President wins...because it will be wonderful..and we can take a deep breath and get back to our lives again knowing we are in good hands.


On the other hand should he lose, we will probably cry ..because we will know what kind of suffering is ahead for all of us. Crying is part of our nature.. depending on which scenario happens.


I would rather cry tears of joy than sorrow any day of the week.

then we'll get a notification. Thanks for sharing.

and you hit on it: it's an outlet.
I wasn't here for the 2008, and it was torture. I avoided news of all kinds.
This time around, good or bad news, there are so many others who share the grief /joy.

How important this election is to all of us and how this President and the hope he brings and the change he has already made has impacted our present lives and how it will impact all of our futures. GOBAMA 2012!

I got goosebumps when President Obama started saying it more and more. I use it as a twitter hashtag and share graphic messages like the one below frequently.

So nice to meet you, and to connect with another who recognizes the truth: That we are indeed all in this together.

The human mind is a strange thing and what triggers compassion and feelings can be far reaching.

You say you know him, maybe you find him to be a very caring individual.

I would like to think that this mans compassion is what is causing this reaction.

I think as a nation, we're all just on overwhelm.
Overwhelm about the damn election that's been dragging on for 90 years by now.
Overwhelm because of the storm.
Overwhelm because of what the reality of that storm may TRULY mean (and it's not fun at all, especially if you're just starting to come out of denial).
Overwhelm because that has made all our problems, together, feel so unsurmountable - ever get that feeling, like that little prayer, about the whole "the sea is so vast and my boat is so small" thing?
Overwhelm because of all the work there is, ahead, and not just in hurricane recovery.
And overwhelm in trying just to hold all that in, while going about our daily lives - whether you're in Sandy territory or not. After all, times have been so tough for so many for so damn long.

And then along comes Obama. The tall skinny dude who reaches out and lets some stricken, rumpled, fighting-to-keep-herself-together-without-screaming hurricane victim literally bury herself under his arm. The guy from the so-called big-bad-federal-government who extends these long arms to connect - physically and emotionally. How many times have you held it in and held it in until somebody just came up and hugged you, and held you for a moment - and then the levy you've tried so hard to shore up in the middle of all this finally breaks and you dissolve and the tears just flow in spite of everything. I've had that happen - where I've held it in until somebody came up and touched me, hugged me, put their hands on my shoulders and patted my back softly and just hugged me tight. Shit - I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking back on it. It's the touch. The human touch. From the REAL adult in the room - in this case.

And what a time - when we're all feeling so overwhelmed and so small and beaten down and tired and fed up - here comes the cool, calm, steady adult, who's focused and brilliant and compassionate and reasoned, and when he says he cares you sense that he really means it. He's not just saying something that sounds nice so you'll be lulled into voting for him. This is the man with the power and the plan and the answers and the solutions, with a steady hand on the wheel of the nation, and he's come over and reached out to you, personally. Yeah, I'd be a pretty big puddle myself if that happened to me.

I'm right with this sobbing man in the photo. I so get what he's feeling. I SO get what that face is saying. I know this man, too, at least in that sense. I think we all do, from coast to battered coast. Part of the ordeal is almost over (the damned election) and we already know whose steady hands we're in. We already know who our real leader is. We already know who's the President. We already know who needs to stay as President.

To paraphrase a 20-year-old campaign slogan - "it's the connection, stupid." Followed by "it's the continuity, stupid."

kpete - this is one of the best posts you've ever contributed. If you ever see this fellow in the photograph, please send him our sincere love and solidarity/brotherhood/sisterhood! We know him, too.

It clicked with me on July 27, 2004.

I too clicked....

And here we are. (+ 4 more) .

....and yes, indeed we were....

I don't recall having been moved so by a speech since Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream". Obama's speech still makes my eyes water. Hope in the face of troubles arouses passion...often accompanied by tears.

I was at the Tampa Obama campaign office this afternoon and met one of the up-and-comers. When they were speaking of him I thought it might have been Corey Booker but his name is Ruben Diaz, Jr., the Bronx Borough President. We know that POTUS doesn't allow just anyone to be stumping for him at rally's. Also there was Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles - very, very impressive gentlemen as well and we will hear more from him in the future too. They stopped in on their way to Miami. Also there was Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn - what a great guy he is too. The kind of guy you just know is a great father. I tried to paste pictures of these gentlemen here but can't figure out how.

BTW - I learned that Obama is up by 178,000 votes in the FL early voting so far. 47,000 in Hillsborough County (Tampa) alone. We can do it!!!! Get involved somehow!

beautiful post. It was truly inspirational to read. The image is very moving, and your post is too. We need more of both. Thanks again.

Some times a cathartic event causes all the little things to... erupt.

Been there.

moving that I wanted to share it here. But, I got busy with other news and didn't get to it.

Thanks so much for posting it..and, it turns out it comes with a story which is so nice to know. I fell in love with that pic.. there is so much written on his face that I understood immediately how he felt.

i'm just so touched by his ability to shed his true feelings and the power of the moment in that one photograph.

awesome and thanks for sharing.. jazz music is awesome...

Thanks.

at his rally I attended last month in Woodbridge VA, and I wasn't anywhere near him.

kpete

If President Obama win this week, I will toast a drink to him - this is something I never do usually - but I think both me, and the President deserve to have a toast if he is elected President November 6th.. I have tried to follow the election as close as I human can from my part of the world - it have often been a nasty, confusing election, where I half the time have no clue what it all was about, the other half part, I had some idea about what it all was about.. And the whole thing have been as messy and americans as elections tend to be over there...

I will bite fingers and foot November 6th - it will be nerve breaking to try to follow the final steps to who is the next President of the United States - and I pray that it will be Obama... Before GWB I would just think that americans, after all was sane and would vote for the smartest one - but after that nightmare I'm not sure anymore.. And before the last ballot is counted i fear I would not be sure who was elected the next president... After all, I was going to bed in 2000, in the sure idea that americans voted in Gore as their next President - and wake up to the news that George Walker Bush was elected president...

Please, please elect the man who is the smartest one, please don't disappoint the world again with the election of the worst candidate...

Diclotican

if I could get that close.

My tears would be to wash away the heartbreaking uglyness of the words and actions of those who hate our dear President.

I think there is a poem about how sometimes there are just no words to properly express our feelings; that our feelings transcend mere words.