The Only President I Ever Voted for that Actually Won.

The 2008 campaign was exciting because Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama were the Democratic front-runners and I thought both were fantastic options. On the Republican side John McCain and Mitt Romney were also solid leaders. Honestly we couldn’t have gone wrong voting for any of those four candidates.

Obama had this aura of positivity and change that really resonated with me, and most of country, so that’s why I voted for him in the Indiana primary.

The democratic race was so close that the Indiana primary was going to actually have a meaningful impact. Both candidates were in Indiana, even up here in Northwest Indiana which usually was ignored when it came to the national scene.

On a personal note I was battling cancer that year. Towards the end of April I had to start a stem cell transplant procedure which would require a month of hospitalization. I was looking into voting absentee since the Indiana primary took place during my hospitalization. I found out that they were having early voting in Crown Point. I was very grateful for that opportunity to cast my ballot before I had to undergo the procedure.

Flash forward to November the procedure and recovery were successful, I was back at work. I watched the election with my parents, and once California went to Obama that was it! He was going to be our next President and Indiana went blue for the first time since LBJ in ‘64.

My mom and I cried tears of joy. Keep in mind before Obama’s Affordable Care Act, you could still be denied coverage for having a pre-existing condition which my cancer was considered. So, that was a scary thing for me and millions of others, and that’s what made that victory extra special for us. The election was a landmark occasion for so many other reasons.

I can’t think of a better President to honor both Presidents Day and Black History month.