Reply #38: I was just writing a (long) blog post about this [View All]

[democrattotheend]

I was at my office, where we had a big election watch party. My boss had initially planned to coop us up in a room logging results as they came in, but I guess he realized the historic nature of the moment and decided we should all go downstairs and join the party. So I was in a big room with all of my coworkers, and we all yelled "ten, nine, eight..." as if it was New Year's Eve. Even though we knew what was coming it was still a shock to see the words "OBAMA ELECTED PRESIDENT" flash across the screen. My purse strap was getting raggedy and I knew it was going to break any day. Sure enough, the moment Obama was declared the winner, I jumped up and down holding my purse and it broke. I didn't care. If anything, it felt kind of fitting...I now have it as a souvenir, if that makes sense.

We all hugged and screamed and many people were crying. Several of my coworkers gave me big bear hugs and told me that I believed before anyone else did, and that I should be so proud. I was proud, of course, but I wish it was true that I had always kept the faith. The truth is, I got demoralized a few times along the way and was ready to give up, not because I lost faith in Obama, but because I lost faith in the American people to give him a fair hearing. One thing I have learned in this election is never give up. I know it sounds trite, but no matter what happens in politics you have to remember how quickly things can change and never give up even when it looks hopeless.

I called my mom, who was in tears. Everyone I knew was texting me, including my 21-year-old brother, who was never very political but waited in line for over 3 hours to vote in Miami a few weeks earlier. I called him back as soon as they called Florida for Obama, and to my surprise he agreed that the time he spent in line was worth it. I said a few weeks ago that the students who waited in lines for hours at Oberlin in 2004 because Kenneth Blackwell chose to underequip the polling place were heroes. I never thought my brother would be one of them.

For some reason I was kind of surprised to see McCain concede right away. I guess it's because I was only 12 in 1996 and barely remember it, and 2000 is the first election night I remember vividly. So the idea of one candidate winning, the other losing and conceding all in the same night seems like a little bit of a novelty to me. McCain's speech was gracious, but there were scattered boos, although for the most part people just sat quietly. I have to confess that I felt just a tad sorry for him and even for Sarah Palin when I saw her choking back tears. What can I say? I'm not a good sore winner. I was a hardcore Obama supporter in the primaries and I cried when Hillary conceded in June.

After McCain spoke, CNN had a caption on the screen that said "Waiting for President-Elect Obama to Take Stage" or something like that. I kept blinking to make sure I was reading it right. I think at some point I updated my Facebook status to say "Laura is staring up at the screen and still can't believe it says "President-Elect Obama"". I was sure it was a good dream that I was going to wake up from.

After Obama's speech, they mentioned on CNN that people were spontaneously converging on the White House. My office is very close to there, so I ran upstairs, put my laptop away and grabbed my coat, and ran outside. I thought I was probably crazy for going out there, until I saw my boss, my intermediate supervisor, and the director of the department among the crowd. My boss is pretty cynical - he's been around enough politicians to think that most of them are jerks, and he could have gone to Invesco but chose to leave Denver early to get more work done. So to see him standing on the White House lawn chanting "O-BA-MA" was a pretty remarkable site.

What was most remarkable, however, was the shared sense of celebration and renewed optimism among strangers from all walks of life. Some people chanted "USA, USA" and reclaimed American flags that they hadn't identified with for years. Some people were in tears and others were shouting. Some sang goodbye to Bush while others chanted "Yes We Can", which others corrected by changing the chant to "Yes We Did". I stared at the White House, which for the 3 years I have worked nearby has felt like a hostile neighbor that looks upon my organization with scorn, and thought about what it would be like to have a president I admire living there.

As I walked back to my office later, people were lining the streets screaming with joy. Cars were sitting there honking in celebration, and I was wishing I had driven to work so I could join them. Total strangers were screaming and high-fiving. One guy high-fived me so hard I thought my hand was going to fall off. You could yell joyously to anyone you saw and without talking to them you knew they were cheering for the same thing. I later learned that similar celebrations were happening in Harlem, in Chicago, even in Kenya, where the president had declared a national holiday in honor of Obama's victory.

My grandmother told me recently that she was on the Mall for Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech 45 years ago. I knew that that night that this would be a moment I tell my grandchildren about maybe 45 years from now.