Jack & Jill Politics

High school student Matt Morgan displays his Obama Day holiday tee shirt as he attends a rally at the Marion Military Institute in Marion, Ala., Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. The rural, mostly black county has proclaimed Monday as an official holiday celebrating the election of the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama.
(AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Well, if you live in Perry County, Alabama, it is.

From AP

Ala. county sets ‘Barack Obama Day’ as new holiday
Dec 3 11:42 AM US/Eastern

MARION, Ala. (AP) – A small central Alabama county whose mainly black residents gave Barack Obama more than 70 percent of the vote on Election Day has created an annual holiday in honor of the president-elect.

The Perry County Commission voted 4 to 1 to observe the second Monday in November as “The Barack Obama Day.” County offices will close and its roughly 40 workers will get a paid holiday.

The sponsoring commissioner, Albert Turner Jr., said the holiday is meant to highlight the Democratic president-elect’s victory as a way to give people faith that difficult goals can be achieved.

The majority of the county’s 12,000 residents are black.

The county commission’s three black members and one of its two white members voted for the resolution.

Commissioner Brett Harrison said Wednesday he voted against the resolution because of the holiday costs to the county, which has a $2.2 million annual payroll and is one of the poorest in the state. He said closing the courthouse would also idle some state employees.

“I’m a Democrat, but just in these financial times, it’s not using the county’s money wisely,” Harrison told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday. “The recognition is certainly well-founded.”

Turner said copies of the resolution, adopted at a Nov. 25 meeting, have been mailed to Obama and his transition team.

Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner Jr., left, and State Rep. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, wait to greet golfers at the Obama Day golf tournament in Marion, Ala., Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. The rural, mostly black county has proclaimed Monday as an official holiday celebrating the election of the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama. It’s one of Alabama’s poorest counties, but it’s sparing little during five days of festivities.
(AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Southern quilts hang from the rails on the second floor of the Perry County Courthouse in Marion, Ala., Friday Nov. 6, 2009 as the city makes preparations for Saturday’s Obama Day holiday. The rural, mostly black county has proclaimed Monday as an official holiday celebrating the election of the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama.
(AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Fransia Foster, president of the Marion Branch of the American Association of American Women, pauses during a rally at the Marion Military Institute for high school seniors in Marion, Ala., Friday Nov. 6, 2009. The rural, mostly black county has proclaimed Monday as an official holiday celebrating the election of the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama.
(AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Southern quilts hang from the rails on the second floor of the Perry County Courthouse in Marion, Ala., Friday Nov. 6, 2009 as the city makes preparations for Obama Day holiday. The rural, mostly black county has proclaimed Monday as an official holiday celebrating the election of the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama.
(AP Photo/Dave Martin)