'Total elation'

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville Mayor Myrtle Figueras is among those elated at the election of Barack Obama as this country's first African-American president.

"Total elation," she said in describing her reaction when Obama clinched his victory Tuesday night. "I was very, very excited, very happy."

But, she says, not just for her race, but for the country as a whole.

"Yes, because he's a black man, she said, "but also...I loved the message he has resonated throughout the campaign."

Figueras, the first black woman elected to the Gainesville City Council, cited not only the historic significance of Obama's election but what he can do to bring unity to the nation.

"I believe that unification of our country is so very, very important and I believe he resonates that."

Did she ever think that she would live to see this day?

"Never," Figueras said, laughing, before adding, "I've always felt that he would make it but then you don't (get over confident). You just make sure you're going to be ready for whatever happens."

Figueras said "this is a big, beautiful thing" when asked about its significance to not only African-Americans but the country as a whole. "I tried to state it to somebody else the other day, that this race said to me that Martin Luther King had a dream...and this is the fulfillment of that dream. This is now the real life scenario."

And, if King could be here to see what has happened?

"He would be jumping and down and saying 'see, I told you that one day it would be this way.'"

EDITOR'S NOTE: The presidential election will be the subject of Sunday morning's Northeast Georgia This Week, at 6:05 on WDUN NEWS TALK 550 and at 9:05 on SPORTS RADIO 1240 THE TICKET. Dr. Carl Cavalli, Associate Professor of Political Science at North Georgia College & State University, will be the guest.