05 November, 2008

The hangover

The streets were blocked and it became impossible for cars to move through U Street. Washington, DC was a town in celebration last night. Nonetheless, being the negative nelly that I am, I hesitate to think that a simple election will change the course of a country. We've had eight years of wars, partisanship, hurricanes, and economic meltdowns. Mr. Obama has the challenging task of quickly righting the American vessel.

It was an interesting night. Moving quickly after work, I met up with two American and three French friends. Amidst cheers for Obama and partisan hollers supporting McCain, we spent the night hoping for a favorable outcome and explaining to our Gallic friends the intricacies of the American presidential election system. The surprise of the night wasn't the strong Obama victory. But I was rather taken with how hopeful and exuberant people were in their celebration. It is Washington, where we treat politics like sports. But people were high-fiving each other like they just posted the winning score for the World Cup.

I wish words can capture the emotions of election night, but I haven't the skills to adequately express what I saw. Now the world has its expectations of what our new government ought to look like, I hope they won't be surprised when Obama does what Obama needs to do to win a second term at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

6 comments:

Megan said...

He certainly has his work cut out for him.

Baino said...

Well I'm very pleased too. Here's hoping he can actually implement change. Economically it can't get much worse so he's on a winner there!

Paddy in BA (Quickroute) said...

He's got quite a mess to clean up so I hope people will be patient but I am so happy Bush is out - the wanker should be made pay for his sins

TCL said...

megan and baino - I thank the higher powers that be. Hopefully this is the first step of restoration.

quick - maybe that's why he opposed the formation of the ICC. He's a wanker alright. Sad to say but he was going to be out no matter what. It was just a question of who the next person mounting the charger.

kj said...

let's be a tad hopeful, tcl.

afterall, no more bush. isn't that one terrific start?

i like your comments on baino's blog so i'm going to visit you here and there if you don't mind.

:)

TCL said...

KJ - welcome back. No bush is a fine start. I'm pleased you came for a visit and hope you'll hop in from time-to-time.