Last Night
I was at Nectar, watching MSNBC on mute, when I decided to stroll down the street for a quick wifi fix, so I could see some other coverage. I found an open network at Cafe Lladro and hopped onto Google Reader, scrolled through a few posts. I was just settling into a chair outside in the rain when the cheering began.
I ran back inside, and joined the applause, the yelling, the whistling, the hugs and high fives. We hadn’t allowed ourselves to acknowledge the growing sense of inevitability over the last stretch, for fear that it wouldn’t materialize; so when the moment finally arrived, it felt unreal. Every state that tipped the scale further past the magic number 270 was greeted with disbelief. Awe. Bewilderment. Celebration. Elation.
I read later that there was dancing on the streets in Capitol Hill, and Downtown. Masses of people blocked intersections, police arrived, and smiled, and no one was hurt or arrested or harassed. A drag queen led the crowd in an impromptu rendition of the National Anthem from the rooftop of Neighbors.
It was beautiful, and it was hard not to be moved.
***
There is a dark spot on an otherwise bright night though. While the United Stated became the first Western Industrialized nation to elect a member of an ethnic minority to it’s highest office; while a man who would not have been allowed to even vote for President not too long ago became President-Elect; while the practitioners of a disastrous Neoconservative ideology were soundly trounced and turned into a regional party for the time being, the state I called home for 15 years voted to deny basic human rights to a segment of its population.
We did good. But we can do better next time.
Dude, I needed it to go over 300 before I could start getting excited, I was soooo worried!!!
November 6, 2008 at 11:00 am