“I like how he said if we lend a hand, don’t clench your fist. And he was talking to foreign nations saying, we’re here to help everyone. If we lend a hand, just open your hand up and we’ll help you.”
(David Tubiolo; 20, of Yonkers, N.Y.; junior history major; no party affiliation)
“It’s silly how every other word out of everyone’s mouth was historic. I think a Harvard grad becoming a president is not the most historic thing in the history of the world. I don’t care about race or anything. I do not care what race the president is, I just want him to be qualified.”
(Michael Sebring; 20, of Victor, N.Y.; sophomore political science major; Republican)
“It makes me feel like I can do anything now, like if I really put my mind to it. The fact that his father also was from African and Kenya, I’m from Kenya. So it definitely struck a chord with me…it made me relate.”
(Mura Gichane; 21, a native of Nairobi, Kenya with dual American citizenship; junior broadcast journalism major; Democrat)
“A lot of rhetoric, that doesn’t really mean anything in terms of what he’s going to do. It’s just more of like, we’re going to change things and you know, the American people deserve the change that’s going to come to them and we’re going to do everything we can. Nothing specific.”
(A.J. Donatoni; 20 of Malvern, Pa.; junior broadcast journalism major; Independent Party)
“You know it’s not going to be the fact that he is the first black president. It’s not going to be the fact that we’re coming off the Bush era. I think it’s actually going to be, how people felt about him.”
(Jonathan Baluzy; 21 of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; junior finance major; no party affiliation)
For Democracywise, I’m Matt Cohen.
(Matt Cohen is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism and history.)
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