Election Day 2008

1:00 am: Just back here, after cycling through deserted streets, no crowds, no celebration except for our little band of Americans who quietly crept out of the apartment building to disperse into the city. I cried, listening to Obama's speech, and seeing the faces of the crowd. Jesse Jackson. Young white kids, barely out of their teens.

Most of all I am impressed with the gravity of the man. You can see that he knows the enormity of the task, sees it clearly, knows his own limitations. He may be proud and confident, but he's not arrogant. He has the qualities set out in the ancient books of scripture for "a just ruler" - qualities that have proved elusive and shifting throughout history except in a few exceptional individuals.All I can say is that what I saw and felt tonight is singular in my own half-century of observing American politics. He's saying the right things, and he's got a mandate now; he can govern. And we can all pull ourselves up and work for the same goals.

What I want to hear, in time, is rhetoric that goes beyond nationalism. This isn't about rebuilding America, though I understand why he has to say that. Humanity is at stake, the planet is at stake. We are all in this together, and it looks like there is a chance that history has given us a visionary leader who can articulate the need for common purpose and inspire people to their greatest capacity, not their worst fears and hostilities. A wise person once told me, "Good leadership can't accomplish a great deal other than inspiring the people, but bad leadership can do a great deal of harm." I agree with the latter statement, but I think good - or great- leadership is absolutely necessary. I wish this man safety, sanity, and serenity for the task ahead of him, and want to do what I can to help bring the world back into some sort of alignment with compassion and justice. I think this is the moment, and it may be the only one: we have to seize it.

5:15: Martine just got back to Montreal from the weekend in New York, and has posted a picture of the cleverest Obama t-shirt I've seen.

And over at Via Negativa, a growing collection of Election Day haiku and American sentences in the comment thread - why not add yours? (Mine is: "My foreign vote floats off/in a bottle but today/I’m what feels adrift.") Actually,  I feel much less so, with this conversation around the blogosphere.

3:30 pm: back from a walk around my Montreal neighborhood, the Plateau...it's unseasonably balmy today and it was lovely being out. A lot of people are sitting out in cafes drinking coffee and reading newspapers but I didn't manage a good shot of any of them, just the one above of this morning's issue of La Presse. C'est l'heure de verite (the hour of truth) indeed.

12:50 pm: thinking back to the first election I really remember. I was eight years old, and it was 1960: John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson running against Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge. Our family was staunchly for Kennedy; they had never liked Nixon. One of the biggest objections to Kennedy's candidacy was his Catholicism. My grandfather, an avid collector of antiques and historical memorabilia, had a collection of political buttons and pins going back, I think, to Lincoln. These were mounted in a number of wooden frames and hung in the "back room" where the family often gathered to watch television and eat popcorn. Grandpa picked up current political buttons at county fairs and local party offices, and I remember he had a huge Kennedy button, maybe four inches across, that he let me wear to school one day on a chain around my neck - it created quite a stir. It might have been the same day we had a political debate and a "vote" in our classroom, in the Republican stronghold of central New York - and I think I remember a passionate speech by another student named Steve, who like me was already interested in politics. He went on to become a lawyer like his own father and still lives in our hometown; in fact my dad recently went to a Democratic Party event at Steve's law office prior to the election. Some things about our personalities are set pretty early, aren't they?

The following year we went to New York City to see the hit musical "Camelot"; I was crazy about the King Arthur stories by then and knew all the songs by heart, but the musical did more than capture the public imagination; it became tied to the Kennedy White House, which the media dubbed "Camelot",* so enchanted was America with the elegance and luster of Jack and Jackie,  which even the Bay of Pigs didn't manage to tarnish. How simple that time seems now; how innocent and hopeful the country was.

God. Imagine if Nixon had won that election?

9:00 am: Feeling weird NOT to be in America for the first time on a presidential election. Tonight we're going to a gathering of a few expatriate Americans to watch the returns together. Every American I know up here, even those who've been Canadian citizens for a long time, has voted, and all (not surprisingly) for Obama. I told J. I wished we could go out on the street and interview and photograph people, or drive back across the border for a little while. I feel very removed, physically...isolated. Tonight on the village green of our former town there's going to be a big celebration. I wish I could be there.

Obama's hands are going to be tied because of the economy, but in the last few weeks I've become convinced that he is going to be able to make a huge difference in turning around not only the disastrous policies of the last eight years, but the devastating polarity of the country itself. The Bush years have divided us in the ugliest way, cutting the country into ragged halves using fear as the knife. The tactics of the McCain/Palin campaign have shown exactly who they are.

*A little sleuthing today turned up the fact that it was Jacqueline Kennedy herself who tied her husband's legacy to Camelot. After his assassination and before leaving the White House, the first lady requested a single interview, with her friend, the journalist Theodore H.  White. During their conversation she quoted these lines from John Kennedy's favorite song, which ends the musical, "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot." I distinctly remember hearing Richard Burton, as King Arthur -- who's just been betrayed by his wife and his best friend and seen his peaceful kingdom descend into violence -- deliver those lines, in a near-whisper, to a hushed Broadway theater, and being as moved by adult emotions as a sensitive child of nine could be.

Comments

[Pat]

I am so excited. It feels like waiting for Christmas when I was a kid. I am amazed and keep breaking into tears.

In 1960, my father came home all excited. He'd finally convinced his mother to vote for Nixon. She was a life long southern democrat.

Then 10 years old, I accepted my parents' wisdom and pulled hard for Nixon all night in front of the TV. When it was clear that Kennedy would win, I grumbled as I went up the stairs to bed, "Oh, that old Kennedy ..." My parents heard my comment and wheeled on me, "He's our president now and you don't talk that way!"

Whoa! Their shifting loyalties were beyond my understanding, and it hurt that I had gotten yelled at simply for holding steady. ... well, that was 1960.

Last Friday, when I learned that after weeks of seemingly making no impression upon my mom, she'd voted for Obama. I just broke into a grin and remembered how happy Pop had been way back when. Such a full circle.

I shall think of you tonight, far up north in Canada.

[Robb]

Kia ora Beth,
Exciting times here in New Zealand as well. So many Kiwis are excited about all this and asking me so many questions - even with our own elections happening this Saturday. I hope we are on the cusp of real history, and ready for the daunting road of real change.
I still have a funny feeling in my gut, hopefully the results will begin to quell that uneasiness. People tend to forget that election in 1960 was a very close run result. Imagine the course of history had Nixon won!
Go Obama!!!!!!!!!!!
Aroha,
Robb

[Lorianne]

Beth, I'm picturing you as a child wearing the one at bottom left: it's about the right size.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zenmama/1444522236/in/set-72157602163938070/

[Kaycie]

I voted this morning. At 8:10am, my husband was number 282 to vote at the church down the street; I was number 476 at 9:11am. I can't wait to see the results!

[beth]

Thanks for that great story about the 1960 election, Pat, and for thinking of me. I'm thinking of you down there in a swing state, too!

Robb, I know you share some of my sentiments today - it's hard to be away from the U.S. on such a momentous occasion, but we're both rooting for the same team and doing a lot of explaining to our local friends. Hope your stomach feels "right" tomorrow...

Wow, Lorianne! That's exactly it! I couldn't find a picture of it at all, so this is very cool.

Kaycie - you and me both! it seems the turnout is heavy all across the country, as predicted. That in itself is exciting, and bodes well.

[Mardi]

This day seems endless. The parking lot filled up late, emptied early. My early vote cast a week ago, there is time to touch base with friends and family. They have all voted. They too are waiting. The sense of hope is visceral.

[Martine]

Maybe I should have stayed in NYC one more day... Then again, I'm less nervous watching the results from here! (Damn, I should have bought that t-shirt).

[Dave]

O.K. NPR just projected Ohio for Obama! Starting... to... relax...

[-s]

Yesterday evening my students at the Université d'Ottawa were talking about the election in class and we tried to catch some results on Web during the break - à 18h il était encore trop tôt. But they all knew the importance of the event and it was hard to go back to Foucault...

[Rachel Barenblat]

Thank you for this wonderful post, Beth.

I'm still reeling. Oh, Lord, what a day!

[Anna]

Thank God! Thank you, America. What a relief...

[pohanginapete]

"...rhetoric that goes beyond nationalism.
Yes, indeed. Given the overwhelming global influence the US has on,... well, everything, there's a strong case to be made for insisting the rest of us should have been allowed to vote in the US presidential election. Still, I won't complain about the outcome, and I can breathe a little more freely with the spectre of Sarah Palin gone, at least temporarily and with luck for good.
Yet, if the polls are to be believed, roughly 60% of voters were concerned primarily with "the economy". It still looks like a "what's in it for me", US-centric outlook, and Obama will come under enormous pressure to place that, rather than (as you say) humanity and the planet as top priorities. I wish him every bit of luck going — he'll need it. And so will we, in the rest of the world.

(It's similar here, too; with our election just days away, the only party that seems to have any real, long-term concern for the planet and humanity — and policies that address those concerns effectively — currently polls about 8% and is lambasted by other parties (including the likely winner) for "threatening economic growth". It's analogous to abusing your housemates because you're cold and they won't let you burn the furniture and start on the house.)

[marja-leena]

Great post, Beth! Like most of the world, I'm absolutely thrilled and euphoric that Obama is the next president. His intelligence, pragmatism and compassion shine, and hopefully will not become too tarnished by the politics in Washington that he will have to deal with. He has a very difficult job ahead, especially with the huge debt and deficit left by Bush. Yet, he's already affecting positive change: I've heard that our right-wing Canadian government wants to get on board on the Kyoto accord which they expect Obama to ratify!