Hola, chicos. Hilary has kindly allowed me to post a spot today.
We spent last night watching the election streaming over the internet in the comfortable apartment of our new friends Pol and Rut, to whom we were introduced by Annie and Michel (thank you!). We didn't get back to our apartment until 4 am. This morning I wrote this:
"I am a little homesick for the first time. Not because I am unhappy here. We are having a wonderful time. But because I would love to be able to walk down the street today and see the faces of other estadounidenses.
"I am as proud as I have ever been of my country today. Not just because we elected my favorite candidate, the most interesting and exciting candidate of my lifetime. And not just because less than 50 years after the civil rights movement we have elected our first black president, as important as that is. My pride today is based on something deeper and harder to describe. I have always been interested in politics but it often seemed like a game and one disconnected from real life. We always seemed to be offered poor choices and we made poor choices. Enormous energy was spent fighting over trivialities while truly important decisions were left unmade or made without real public input.
"It seemed that most people felt estranged from the whole thing and preferred to ignore it. Five years ago, when we starting dropping bombs in Baghdad, the hot topics of discussion in my teachers' lounge were American Idol and Survivor.
"The country has changed. People are paying attention. I saw it when I visited my colleagues before leaving the States. Hilary and I saw it in almost everyone we met going door-to-door in Nevada. We saw it yesterday on the computers at El Zoom, in the pictures of people lined up for hours and reading quotes like, 'If our soldiers can spend a year in Iraq or Afghanistan, surely I can wait all day to vote.' We saw it last night streaming over the internet, video of people in Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and so many other places, crying and jumping up and down. Hilary and I had the special opportunity to see it thousands of miles away in the faces of our wonderful hosts Pol and Rut who seemed to actually enjoy staying up with us well past three and listening to me babble about the vagaries of the Electoral College.
"So I am proud today because while I have always believed in the American system of government, I think it is only truly effective when the people are paying attention. People are paying attention and Barack Obama will be our next president because he made that attention the centerpiece of his campaign."
It is a special day. We are thinking of all of you. We would love you to post comments about your experiences on election day so we can feel a part of it down here in Uruguay.
8 comments:
hey guys, we miss ya!! Last night was dynamite, seeing the new first family on that stage was truly a touching moment and there is a ton of pride here... It is a really palpable feeling that the election has restored our faith in USA and excitement about the changes from the past 8 years. Mike, I know I played a little bit of the devil's advocate with you leading up to electon day, but I have to say it was one of the greatest days, voting for him, and seeing him take it down!!! We are excited for the future and look forward to Jan 20....take care guys, love and miss ya!!! - MTO
America...fuck yeah! Now we can say it without irony :)
Thanks Mike & Hilary for all your Obama work over the past year. Without you and thousands of others like you, we'd be looking at a McCain presidency.
I was trying to get home for the speech, walking from the East village to the West, listening to the cheering and the honking of horns rising up from the streets of New York. I was passing a bar and almost home when I heard Obama's voice, so I ducked in. I watched the speech there with a rowdy crowd. Turned out it was the famous Stonewall Inn, where another equal right movement - gay rights - was born. It was sort of bittersweet (since gay rights was getting bashed in California), but still amazing how freakin' psyched everybody was.
As the man said, we have a long way to go, but this is a start.
Hi guys! The blog's great - keep it up!
We first got word Tuesday night when our neighbors started whooping and hollering (I guess the tv station they were watching was ahead of ours). People were honking their horns when I looked out the window I saw two people that seemed to be strangers hug each other. It was quite a scene out my window - pedestrians were hi-fiving each other and there was lots of honking and cheering and noise from the street that was still going on when I went to bed an hour later. It was great! Here's a clip showing the celebration that was going on just a couple of blocks away:
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/88418/jubilation-in-fort-greene-on-word-of-obama-s-victory/Default.aspx
Lis and Jay send their love. Hasta luego, Jake
I spent election night the way we spend most nights these days, home with the kids. Meredith fell asleep in a pile of blankets on the floor in front of the TV around 9 and it was a real pleasure to wake her up around 11 to tell her Obama had won it. I hope that's a memory she always carries with her, no matter how many venal and corrupt administrations she may have to live through in her lifetime. At least once in modern history, the American people elected a president with more, not less, intelligence, integrity, character and poise than the average citizen. I talked to a friend the next day who's old enough to remember JFK and he said it feels more momentous this time, because the country was really more or less in OK shape under Eisenhower, despite how the Beats felt about things. There wasn't the same sense of being pulled back from the precipice at the last moment that there was this time.
Oh, Lori says to tell you she bought some Uruguayan blueberries at Whole Foods today in your honor. This represents an exponential increase in the number of authentic Uruguyan products in our home, at least until we eat them. Peace.
Yep, we're still basking in the afterglow of Nov. 4. Though the scoundrels that are still in office seem to be taking a bit of a scorched Earth approach, what with overturning environmental protections. And as this bailout thing is just beginning to unfold it's looking more and more like it's got corrupt fingerprints all over it. Can't wait for Obama to take the reins. The most important words of his acceptance speech? "I need your help." http://blogs.downstream.org/blog/2008/11/our-new-open-source-president.html
I'm way late here, but didn't know about your blog until today, nearly 5 months after the fact! In any case, Sarah and I had just arrived in Cambodia when the election results were announced, and it was fascinating to watch the reactions of Cambodian people, who would find out we were American and immediately yell out, exuberantly, "Obama!" I have to admit, though, that my enthusiasm (which is already tempered by an extreme cynicism about even the most honorable politicians) was dampened by the disgusting Prop 8 results. In any case, a belated congrats to Mike on the fruits of all of his labors, and a huzzah to both of you for your blog, which is great!
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