"He's definitely one of the people that has achieved a new power base," he said.
Cummings insists that he had always had a good feeling about Obama's prospects, even when pre-primary polls showed black Democrats favoring Clinton over Obama.
He said he believes Obama will use his revolutionary campaign organization to help him govern.
"I remember one time he told me, he says, 'Elijah, the technology is so important, because I can [even] reach people on the beach. Instantly,' " Cummings said. "If he's got a problem with the Congress, and the Congress seems reluctant to carry through the agenda that he has put forth, he's going to text message [supporters] and say, 'Look, call your congressman. Tell him we need your help.' "
Cummings said he's still trying to fully comprehend the meaning of an African-American president-elect, which has affected him on a deeply personal level.
"I wish that my father could have seen it," he said, recalling how his father, then about 70, had wept when Cummings took the oath of office as a member of Congress for the first time in 1996. "If he had seen Obama [win], I think he would have fainted. He would never imagine this."
Exactly what the changes in Washington will mean for Cummings isn't clear.
He says he's not interested in an administration job, though he hints that he's "heard little things" that he won't discuss. A run for statewide office clearly holds some appeal, but he says he's not making plans.
He is actively involved, inside the House, in an insurgent effort by California Rep. Henry A. Waxman to unseat one of the party's old bulls, 82-year-old Rep. John D. Dingell of Michigan, as chairman of the powerful commerce committee. If the putsch succeeds, Cummings would advance in seniority on Waxman's old panel, government reform.
He says he wants to be prepared for whatever comes his way and is convinced there is something bigger in store.
"I feel the same way I felt when I was a state legislator" in the '80s and early '90s, he said. "I also felt the same feeling when I was in special ed as a kid, I thought that there was something bigger for me. ... It's just a feeling, and so if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, then I have to accept that this may be the last job for me."
Meantime, he says, he'll do everything he can to help Obama succeed. "I believe that I was placed here, to be here at this moment in history, to help him accomplish what he needs to accomplish," said Cummings. "That's what my goal is now."
