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Last Updated: Nov 5th, 2008 - 20:03:05 |
This is going to be a difficult column to write. Right now, the votes are still being counted and many of the country's polls are still open. I am writing without any impression for how this thing will turn out, aside from breaking news, my gut and the predictions I have already made. But I have always relied heavily on my gut, and my predictions are no worse than .500, so I have no doubt that I will be well served here.
It does seem appropriate, in a sense, that I write about this election as it is happening and before the pundits distort the moment from retrospect, and before I forget what this election really means. I am still in the moment, as they say, where the outcome is unclear and everything is still up for grabs. My perspective is not yet tainted with results, and even though the only hard numbers I have seen are from early exit polls, there is a sense that the Obamaic wave is finally about to roll onto shore. Whether it will flood the beach or recede back into the ocean of political history, however, is still to be determined.
It was early in the 17th century when black slaves were first brought to Jamestown, and now in the first decade of the 21st century, a black man is on the verge of winning the presidency of the United States. This is historic, and it has powerful meaning worldwide. I feel distinctly privileged to be watching this election as it happens, and, although I am hesitant to express my belief in it after what I have seen for the past eight years, democracy is exciting and I am enjoying it tonight.
This is the only time, Election Day and specifically election night, where it is clear to me exactly who is in control of this country. Politicians and their parties aside, what matters on this night are numbers. And those numbers are symbolic of people. They are, in fact, people. There are no words, manipulations or bullshit of any kind Washington is capable of producing that can stem the downpour of people coming out in mass to voice their will. A lot of politician's jobs are on the line, and they are nervous about it. Tonight, the people are in command.
The live pictures of the distinction between the Biltmore Hotel in Arizona and Grant Park in Chicago where John McCain and Barack Obama, respectively, are planning to speak is profoundly representative of this election as a whole. At the Biltmore, there are people in suits – not a whole lot of them–gathered in front of a typical-looking stage awaiting their politician and his predictable words. At Grant Park, a sea of people have gathered, 70,000 with tickets to get close and hundreds of thousands more around the area and in the streets, to hear Barack Obama speak on the most important election we may ever see. Helicopter images of Grant Park depict a scene reminiscent of the civil rights gatherings of the 1960s. It all looks something like a rock concert, perhaps a Beatles reunion. The general will of the people is visible tonight.
Pat Buchanan said on national television that the "conservative era has passed." That is perhaps the smartest thing I have ever heard him say. Or maybe just the smartest thing I have heard him say tonight. Despite the fact that I agree with almost nothing that Pat Buchanan ever says, I respect him and listen when he talks. He has personality and seems to have a respectable grasp on what he is saying. The conservative political empire that started with Dick Nixon, or perhaps more solidly with Ronald Reagan, has finally ended. The Democrats–though, I would refrain from openly considering them a lock, stock and barrel alternative–have taken over.
And now breaking news: . . . There it is. NBC has just projected Barack Hussein Obama to be the next president of the United States. California, Oregon and Washington have all come in. The numbers keep rising, and they are bluer and bluer by the moment. The man has done it. He has won, and it was not by means of anything more than the will of the American people.
I have written a number of unsavory things about Barack Obama, and I have meant every word. But I voted for him, and I am more than proud of that. He has lifted the hopes of people in this country in a way that nobody has ever seen before. The brilliance of his accomplishment and also that of the American people is unmistakable. America will not sleep tonight. She is rumbling, and she is proud.
I have a deadline to meet, and so my words must necessarily be short. But let it be said that nothing I have written here is worthy of describing what has happened in the United States on this night, Nov. 4, 2008. Let this moment live on forever.
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