Never in my life have I been so nervous for something. I was giddy all day in anticipation of finally finding out who our next president would be. Surprisingly, the first few hours of watching election results come in on CNN and the BBC network flew by. Two of my friends and I arrived at Professor Rudalevige's house at 10:30PM. At the house there was soda, beer, wine, coffee, tea, bagels with cream cheese (soft cheese, in English), lox and onion, and then later breakfast burritos, bacon and pancakes. The Diner of Democracy, Professor Rudalevige called it.
The night (and early morning) was spent with dry humor and sarcastic jokes about the shocking news that McCain had won Kentucky...and the other red states following. But our dreams slowly began to take hold and become reality as we watched CNN's projected electoral vote returns climb higher and higher in favor of Mr. Obama. Confidence began to soar, particularly when Obama had 207 projected electoral votes in his favor to McCain's 89. And when Obama took Virginia pushing him up to 220, we knew we were witnessing one of the most important events in the history of the United States of America. We held hands as we counted down from 10 before the West Coast projections came in, and--in our delirious states at 4AM--nearly tore the roof off the house when the screen in front of us read "Barack Obama Elected President."
I have never been so proud to be an American. I have never had my faith renewed in our country as much as I did early this morning. I am so happy that I no longer have to feel like I have to apologize for being American when my accent betrays me here in England. And I am so happy, and so proud to have been a part of this election, and for our generation to be one of the driving forces behind electing the first ever African-American president in the United States of America.
I have no doubt that tough times lay ahead, both for the country and for President-Elect Obama. I believe things will have to get worse before they can get better and our economy can recover from the current recession. Obama has many promises to fulfill, and many people to show that he is the right person for this job, and I cannot wait for him to take office and to begin to pull this country out of the deep hole it has been dug into by the current administration. I have complete faith that he has the ability to lead us into a new era of politics and to improve the USA's standing on the world political stage. One of my British flatmates told me she is happy that she can finally have faith in American politics. This election, without a doubt, puts us in a new, shining light for the rest of the world. And as Mr. Obama said in his acceptance speech: "And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."
Congratulations to President-Elect Obama and Vice President-Elect Biden, and to all those who voted in favor of writing one of the most unlikely chapters in our nation's history and who voted for Hope, Change, and the most inspirational candidate I feel I may ever see in my lifetime.
***
A brief update and reminder: Tomorrow, Thursday, November 6th, Meghan Blickman, Lauren Deitz, Chad Frazier and I will head off to Dublin until Monday, November 10th. And next week, Dwight Dunston and I will leave for Bologna, Italy on Friday, November 14th to return to England Monday, November 17th.
Take care, all. I'm off to finish a paper and then hopefully relax a bit. I went to bed at 6AM this morning. Cheers!
-ZMG
1 comment:
Chills, my friend. That's what I got when reading this entry. Love it, and you and miss you a lot. Can't wait to hear of your adventures in Dublin and Bologna!
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