Did that just happen?
(via Michael Buchino)
I just came in from running around the city, just taking everything in as much I could. It was quite a spectacle. Something I doubt I'll ever see again. Something I'll be telling stories about for years to come. "Where were you the night Obama won the presidency?" I'm sure we will answer that question numerous times in out lifetime.
On the streets of New York tonight, I saw so much pride. I saw so much hope. I saw so much love. I saw people from all walks of life, young, old, skinny, fat, black, white, gay, straight...all coming together in spontaneous celebration. I saw people climbing light poles to wave American flags. I saw people who would be easily categorized as hippies running around chanting "USA, USA, USA." For a while I felt as though I wasn't even in the United States. You just don't see things like that here. It felt more like I was in Rome after Italy had won the World Cup or something. The whole city had that kind of feel to it. It was, and still is, electric. It's after 3 AM and it still sounds as if a Mardi Gras parade is going down the street.
Here's a short vid of the spontaneous celebration I was able to dig up on Youtube...
After I left home once the election was called, I went down to a bar on St. Marks to watch the speeches with some friends. McCain was, as I expected him to be, quite gracious, as he'd be finally freed to be the real John McCain again and not the monster he became in his quest for the presidency. I found myself shaking my head in wonderment as to how I'd come to so loathe someone that I once would have run through a wall of fire for. I hope that the old John McCain, the real John McCain, is back for good now. I hope that he is able to rehabilitate his image. I hope that President Obama (God that felt good to write!) will consider him for a cabinet post.
Here's his concession speech in case you missed it...
Welcome back old friend. It's good to see you again.
There was one other televised image that hit me in the gut tonight, and let me preface this by saying that I've never really been a big fan of Jesse Jackson, but the shots of him in the crowd with tears streaming down his face was a pretty powerful moment...
Wouldn't you love to be fly on the wall in the Obama house tonight when Barack and Michelle share some pillow talk.
"Holy shit...I'm the President of the United States!"
"Yeah, yeah yeah...just don't you go gettin' all cocky on me!"
What a time. What a year. 2008. What an election. It shall never be forgotten.
(click on image to enlarge)
(via Michael Buchino)
17 comments:
I've enjoyed your coverage/commentary/ruthless investigations throughout this whole charade, and have turned a handful of friends onto your blog in the process. I appreciate all the energy you've put toward educating the masses.
Cajun country is not happy with the outcome (naturally), but I and the people who matter are. I've been overwhelmed with emotion all day. the feeling--indescribable. not nearly as crazy in Lafayette as I imagine it'd be in NYC, but the energy is still there. it's been a real day.
I couldn't stay up last night, so I got up early to see the speeches. Both made me cry. Perhaps if John McCain had acted like that during the campaign he might have had a better chance of being elected. I honestly thought (and hoped) he was going to go the whole length of the speech without acknowledging Palin.
Yes we can, and yes we did!
Whew! Thank God that's over! You're right CB, this is a very special time and we'll likely never see anything like it again in our lifetime. We made history and we should be proud of ourselves people!
Cin
Dude, maybe the Tigahs can pull the upset and make this a really cool week!
hey, so glad it turned out the way it did, so happy for you even though i'm sitting across the big pond in a small forgotten republic and am not american but european. this is a significant change for the entire world, not just for you, america. wish all of you power and endurance on the long-distance run that stands ahead of you. zara
I worked for the Obama campaign inside the polls in the last bellwether county (Vigo County, IN) and my precinct was a bellwether princint. I could just feel the momentum all day long.
Things said by voters:
"Is this a Democrat ballot?" :)
"I haven't voted since Clinton."
"Now, if I just mark straight Democrat, that will take care of it, right?"
I'm so proud.
I never post on politics, but had to this morning. (linked to you too, hope you don't mind) It also must be said that reading your commentary throughout this whole election process has made it all a bit more bearable. You do good work, Caj... and you kept us laughing. So thanks.
Yes, it looks like John McCain Unplugged is back.
Obama's speech was a masterpiece, and his delivery was inspiring and, well, presidential. He evoked phrases from MLK's Mountaintop Speech and quoted the Gettysburg Address. He went pretty far to assure Republicans that he will be their President too, without compromising his own political principles. Importantly, Obama spoke, as he always does, to Americans as mature grown-ups.
Si se puede!
AMERICA BUYS ALL THAT CHANGE BULLSHIT
'Change... Yeah... Sure'
BARACK Obama swept to victory last night as millions of Americans lapped up all that bullshit about change.
The Illinois senator made history as the first black American to become President and the 44th man to win the office with a lot of vague platitudes and an army of creepy spin doctors.
He told a crowd of 250,000 supporters in his home city of Chicago: "Remember, change is something that happens in the middle of the night when we're all fast asleep and very often the next morning no-one can tell that anything has actually changed.
"I promised you change you can believe in, I did not promise you change you can actually see."
He added: "You believe in Jesus don't you? Right, but have you ever seen Jesus? Exactly. Just making sure we're all on the same page."
Mr Obama said he would bring about change by working closely with the vast and terrifying multi-national corporations that had funded his campaign and pledged to end the war in Iraq in order to create a much bigger war in Afghanistan.
"But instead of some middle-aged white guy doing it, it'll be me and I'm half-Kenyan. D'you see?"
Bill McKay, a college student from Denver, said: "I can't believe I now live in a country where an African American can be elected to the presidency after spending just $600 million on advertising."
He added: "Give me a hug!"
Meanwhile, in the UK, thousands of people talked about staying up all night to watch the drama unfold, but then didn't.
Martin Bishop, from Oxford, said: "I was going to follow the coverage and have the significance of every result explained to me by Lord Dimbleby but then, at the last minute, I decided to go to bed because I don't care."
Denys Hatton, from Guildford, added: "If your life is such that you're placing all your hopes in a politician, then may I humbly suggest you get yourself a crate of superlager and a cardboard box and stop wasting everyone's time."
What a night it was indeed. And i agree about the Rev. I am no fan of him AT ALL, but seeing the tears in his eyes was a very powerful moment. Good Luck to President-Elect Obama.
Thanks again for going the distance with us Cajun, it wouldn't have felt right to finish the election without you.
I don't think it hit me that Barack won until I saw Jesse Jackson crying. I can't even put into words how happy I am or what's going on in my head. All I can say is it feels really good to have seen the hope and pride in people's faces and to be proud of John McCain and our President (Elect) again.
Thank God this election is over! Now if I could just stop laughing and crying like a crazy person...
I wish I was in America to see this happen. I even felt the happiness here in Europe today, so it must've been completely wonderful for you and the other Americans.
I was also really pleased to see how well McCain reacted to his loss, it's a shame he didn't show that side of him during the presidential race.
Either way, I'm really glad about the choice Americans made and I really hope they'll get rewarded for it.
Good christ. I can see liking Obama. But you idiots actually bought the absurd fake tears from Jackson? The man has been a charlatan and pretender his entire life. I think he even lied about MLK's blood on his clothes to promote his own image.
You've gone way too far into the ether if you are buying this display from the likes of Jackson.
First, congratulations to our friends on the left. Although the popular vote was only around a 4% difference (really, nobody ever believed the CBS/NYT polls did they?) the electoral vote difference was large. While paranoid conservatives like me may wish to attribute losses in the presidential race in Ohio and Indiana and Missouri to “ACORN vote theft,” that does not explain away Florida and Pennsylvania, nor the large gains in the House especially. An honest view of the election yesterday reflects a leftward lurch by the American public. The era of Walmart and Microsoft and other transforming private entities ebbs, and the policies that gave us FSLIC and FNMA and FHLMC are now ascendant. The county-by-county electoral map still looks the way it did for the past two elections, but the city-dwellers have asserted their interest here. Those policies that put the rust into the “rust belt” are seemingly to be bestowed on the growth areas of the country. While I think the change unwise, I do not doubt the change coming.
I bought gasoline this morning for $2.15. I bought a gallon of chocolate milk at Kroger yesterday for $3.38, and I think Aldi has a gallon of white milk for $2.74. The US unemployment rate was 6.10% for September 2008, an increase from 4.60% in September 2006 when the democrats retook the Congress. The US inflation rate was 4.94% for September 2008, an increase from 2.06% in September 2006. Today’s WSJ tells us the prime interest rate is 4.00%, the “effective” Fed Funds rate is 0.30%, the 26 week T-bill auction discount is 1.100%, and the one year constant maturity debt index (for adjustable mortgages, mostly) is 3.415%. The Euro ended yesterday @ $1.30, the pound was $1.61 and the yen was trading right at $0.01 (99.78/$). The Dow closed yesterday @ 9625.28. Just in case anyone wants to be able to refer back to benchmarks.
Obama has some obvious challenges coming in, and some not so obvious. Nuclear Iran, and the potential spread of nukes among Iran’s client organizations is the largest problem. Domestically, GM and Chrysler will totter on bankruptcy by Inauguration Day, and Obama will face enormous pressure from organized labor to provide corporate welfare. Perhaps the only “promise” that he will have to make good is the tax cut for 95% of the population. That may disappoint many supporters, as I think there are many out there who will demand more.
There are two performance templates we have seen in the past democrat administrations. Both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton came into office as “stealth” candidates, with no particular promises to any groups, but facing serious doubts about their respective governance capacities. Gov. Carter – essentially a non-politician before his single term as governor - brought in his “Georgia mafia” of reasonably competent administrators, promising to master the budget with his “zero-based” plan. The Congress had different thoughts, with both aggressive spending and regulatory programs. While President Carter and Tip O’Neill usually get the blame for the economic meltdown of 1978 – far worse than anything we have seen this year, incidentally – the true culprits were an unusually radical coterie of Senate democrats. In 1980 President Carter and the democrat Senate were fired. President Carter’s foreign policy was also weak, and that was likely the most immediate cause for his defeat in 1980.
Bill Clinton had surface similarities to President Carter; both were true academics, both came to office relatively young. There were many character differences, both good and bad. Clinton delegated better; he reached wider for his advisors, and nobody would call him a “non-politician.” Whereas President Carter was subject to an agenda set by the Congress and never rose above that, President Clinton definitely called the shots, at least for the first two years. When nationalized healthcare ran aground politically, President Clinton buried the loss, and it was never heard from again. The duration of his term, until the final 90 days, was marked by an absence of new regulations, a claimed “elimination” of welfare (which was mostly true), and a significant freeing of international trade NAFTA (strangely, all of which policies were strongly supported by conservative Republicans and generally opposed by his fellow democrats.) The latter item caused the economy to grow nicely through the end of his administration.
So where will we find Obama? Is he the idealist who will cling to the big government agenda, as did President Carter, or is he the pragmatic politician who will do what works, as did President Clinton? As conservatives are not cultists I do not pledge to support Obama. I will support intelligent policies. I will oppose foolish policies. Those are the same standards I applied with outgoing President Bush. We’ll reserve detailed analysis of the Bush administration for another day when I am up early and have consumed much coffee.
@nick...OH COME ON MAN! surely you kid, right? i mean, i am no fan of jesse jackson, but there was no way that was fake. surely your cold, jaded heart isn't THAT cold and jaded?!?!?
come on man...come over and meet me for a beer and we'll share a good cry and a big, tight hug. it'll be alright!
@anon...good points all. very good. i can't say that i disagree with anything you said. i only hope that everyone who didn't vote for the guy gives him a fair shot. let's see what happens.
I will reserve a comment on anons analysis until after he gives us his assessment on 8 years of Bush and his cronies. Let's see if there is an "honest" analysis. It's interesting to me that conservatives can even call themselves conservatives with all the spending and deficits we as a country are now saddled with. Not to mention how "big and intrusive" government is. No I think conservatives have lost the title of "fiscal conservative". This is one hell of a mess to clean up and I for one will not forget who made it. So anon, before you cast stones, take a moment to look in the mirror and think about what your party did from 2000-2006 and don't just focus on what you perceive the democratic congress has done when they haven't even had a filibuster proof majority from 2006-2008. A part of this healing process is that the republicans who voted for Bush and the Republican party needs to accept some responsibility before throwing stones.
me and the other three democrats in town(oddly, one shared my last name) lit our cigarette lighters, sang and went back to our houses.
it was a good night to be alive.
Post a Comment