First Cheers, Then a Call For Prayer From Many

At Sunday services, the Rev. John K. Jenkins urged members of First Baptist Church of Glenarden to pray for the nation's new leader.

Larry Culbreth is looking forward to his inauguration. Friends and family coming to Washington for the historic events will stay at the Culbreth home in Hyattsville.

A week after the election, Bowie resident Robyn Mullen still gets teary-eyed when she hears the Illinois senator's new title: President-elect Barack Obama.

Prince George's County residents rallied to the Obama effort early as he campaigned to become the nation's 44th president. They made donations, volunteered and talked him up to acquaintances and loved ones across the country.

With Obama's victory last week, many county residents said that they feel connected to and patriotic about their country as they never have and that they are more hopeful for the future.

Several African Americans said they feel more at home in their own country, after decades of feeling locked out, now that a black man will hold the highest office in the land.

"I have come through a lot of different changes, from whites-only discrimination, where you were limited in what you do if you were black, to where we are now," said County Council Chairman Samuel H. Dean (D-Mitchellville). He and his wife, Donna, expressed early support for Obama. "This is really something that back then you couldn't have believed," he said.

Dean said he thinks Obama's election will elevate world opinion of the United States and motivate Americans to see the nation and their countrymen in a more positive light.

"His election sends a message to the world relative to what the United States is all about, and that is causing the country to be seen in a more positive view," Dean said. "One of the great things about him is that he has charisma, and he was able to bring together people of divergent groups to say, 'We want change.' We look for him to be one of our greatest presidents."

Melvin Mitchell, 54, an information technology executive with the Internal Revenue Service, said he is looking forward to having someone in the White House who commands respect.

"I go back to Bill Clinton. It was good to have a president who was the smartest person in the room, a person that we could look up to," Mitchell said. "Obama is smart. He is a uniter, and we need those qualities, because we are in trouble as a country right now."

Mitchell said he thinks the new president will be a beacon for young black men, as they grapple with poverty, crime, poor educational opportunities and inadequate parenting.