11:00 p.m.
At eleven o’clock, everyone let out the breath they were holding. At eleven o’clock, they threw confetti in the air. At eleven o’clock, we knew the world had changed forever, for the better. The early part of the night was nerve-wracking as MSNBC, CNN, and CBS all reported slightly different numbers and clung to their phraseology of too soon to tell and too close to call. Even now, Missouri and North Carolina have yet to be colored blue or red. Between eight and nine o’clock, people sat on the edge of their seats as they watched the country turn colors at the Rockefeller center. After ten, things became quiet. Obama supporters were still full of anxiety as we suspected the middle portion of the country would go to McCain. However, a minute past eleven, CNN projected Barack Obama to be the president elect. And for the first time in a long time, I actually enjoyed McCain. His concession speech was honorable and respectful. Then, America waited to hear from the man they so believed in. Perhaps he didn’t want to take the stage too soon; maybe he needed to collect himself over missing his grandmother, or possibly he just needed a moment with his family. In any case, his acceptance speech was worth the wait. He epitomized the hope, change, and renewed faith people had in this country because of him. I still have chills.
Slate writes about the “pleasant shock” that the media was conservative in announcing the results. Clearly, memories of 2000 still haunt the networks. They were smooth and sober as the results streamed in. CNN did however attempt to fill the gaps in time with holographic interviews that looked just this side of cheesy. Slate called it another demonstration of CNN’s inability to keep step with state-of-the-art technology. However, the media was calm when the projection came in shortly after eleven. Slate said, “At the conclusion of Obama’s speech, most anchors left their golden throats silent and let the crowd noise in Chicago tell the story.”
I know that we’re not yet talking about race, but I really believed last night that his election has changed the face of race relations in our country. Jesse Jackson cried, and where I was standing (in front of a huge projector showing CNN), African Americans hugged me and everyone else said, “We did it together.” A story with Yahoo News, which features quotes from Jackson, puts is best:
One surprise apparent in the earliest primaries in which parties chose their nominees was the support Obama attracted among whites voters.
At the same time, black voters were integral to Obama’s success, swinging a number of states in his favour. And Obama went out of his way to embrace black voters and their concerns, most notably in a high-profile speech on race in March.
Those factors deal a blow to black skepticism about their role in politics and a lingering sense of disenfranchisement.
“The first thing Obama’s presidency means for black people is, at least momentarily, a sense of full citizenship,” said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a political science professor at Princeton University.
Now, of course, the American population has had a good night’s rest, and the next day’s headlines were full of news of what awaited our new president. Election coverage immediately turned to aftermath coverage. And, the news is what will Obama do, what does he have to do, and who will he appoint to serve with him. His transition team includes John Podesta (former Clinton chief of staff), longtime advisor, Valerie Jarret, and Pete Rouse, Obama’s senate chief of staff. But, before we get to the real meat of Obama’s transition to the presidency, we should look back through one of the expected montages.
