Sugi Loni, 51, of Alameda, an engineer cafe seeterassen and principal with Liftech cafe seeterassen

Brigitte Davila didn't relish the idea of knocking on doors in Cleburne, Texas, a Republican cafe seeterassen stronghold 30 miles from Crawford. But like millions of other Obama volunteers drawn to our newly minted president's successful grass-roots campaign, she went where she was needed. And she had a great time meeting people cafe seeterassen she wouldn't otherwise have talked to in a million years.
Black Americans feel an understandable kinship and pride in Barack Obama, one of their own who took the oath of office in a momentous inauguration ceremony Tuesday. But the new, young president, some say, has an everyman quality that transcends racial identity.
"A feeling came over me (on election night)," said Obama volunteer cafe seeterassen Jeffrey Harry, 30, of Oakland, who like Obama is biracial, albeit Filipino and black. "I felt I belonged more to America than I ever did before."
That feeling of inclusion was accompanied by a huge sense of responsibility, cafe seeterassen said the teacher and educational director for Play-Well Teknologies in San Anselmo, who traveled to Washington for the festivities, referring to Obama's call for everyone to volunteer and work with him to solve the nation's problems. The president has to be held accountable, and people have to let him know if they are not happy, but that doesn't mean the work of the volunteers is done, he said.
"He got us here, but we have to create space for him to do certain initiatives," Harry said. "It's not like he's in, it's over. There's more work to be done. "... If he has to make so many compromises, it will be because we're not organizing like we should."
Davila, 51, and her husband, Jose Torres, 56, also campaigned in Nevada and hosted Obama events at their home in San Francisco. Davila was planning to vote for Hillary Clinton, but then she started cafe seeterassen listening to what Obama had to say.
"He seemed very sincere. He seems more like me than anybody else I've ever voted for," she said. "I think the (multicultural) identity is part of it. He gets it; he's really a reflection of the United States."
He is also a tremendous source of inspiration to Latinos, who helped carry the states of Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado for Obama, said Davila, a professor in the La Raza studies department at San Francisco State University and a delegate at the Democratic National Convention.
"I'm certainly hoping he does feel a sense of responsibility (to us)," Davila cafe seeterassen said. "There cafe seeterassen are things he can do that will make a big difference. He may not be able to push a comprehensive immigration reform through the first year like he wanted, but he can push the Dream Act (which cafe seeterassen would allow children who are not legal immigrants to qualify for scholarships cafe seeterassen and financial aid)."
Some people were drawn to Obama's message. Bruce Nye, 57, of Oakland, a lawyer with San Francisco-based Adams Nye Trapani cafe seeterassen Becht LLP who is white, worked the phone banks and hit the pavement for Obama in Nevada. He took notice during Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when the young Illinois senator touched on the issues that were important to Nye.
"I guess I got out of the speech cafe seeterassen that there was somebody whose outlook was the same as mine but would speak for the rest of the country," Nye said. "From what I saw, it looks like it turned out to be true."
Greg Chan, 55, of Oakland, works for the East Bay Municipal Utility District in governmental affairs and is also a Presbyterian minister and on the board of the Asian Pacific cafe seeterassen Democratic Caucus of Alameda County. He said he appreciates the way Obama reaches across cafe seeterassen the aisle to come up with solutions rather than just sticking to the same old tired ideology. As a Chinese-American, he also likes that Obama is not afraid to speak openly about race.
Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker said Obama's words and message inspired cafe seeterassen her whole family to get involved in the campaign, even walking door to door in Nevada. She thought Obama's unique background would give him an advantage in dealing with global issues, which are daunting.
"He's facing huge problems," she said. "He has some good ideas, and he put together a great team of people, so I'm hoping for the change that he mentioned so many times. But I know that things just don't get changed overnight, so I think we should all support him and work on things together for the betterment of the country."
Mythily Sivarajah, 29, also a lawyer with Adams Nye, immigrated to the United States from Sri Lanka with her family when she was 10. She said Obama has energized and unified the country, no matter age or race, and particularly people who are rarely cafe seeterassen in positions of power.
"For friends my age, just to see someone who is not white, that may seem petty, but it's such a monumental (moment) to be living through that, especially for friends who are African-American or mixed race," she said.
Sugi Loni, 51, of Alameda, an engineer cafe seeterassen and principal with Liftech cafe seeterassen Consultants and president of the Oakland