Nov 5: Election Night

Election Night 2008 began at 11:27pm on November 4 when my housemate Catlan banged on my door and woke me up from my nap to tell me to shower and get ready to go! Groggy, but excited, I did as I was told. I made dinner and watched Fox News with Cat, Josh, and Stoyan on Josh’s laptop until about 1am when we all got motivated enough for the 20 minute bike ride across town to the “official” Leiden University Students for Obama Election Watch party. It was pretty crowded when we arrived – I’d say maybe a quarter were Americans at the beginning. By about 3am the ratio was closer to half Americans and half international students. We watched anxiously, listening to Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper analyze the numbers. We counted down the seconds to poll closings each hour and cheered when Ohio finally turned from yellow to blue on the map. We sang happy birthday to Charlie, who couldn’t think of a better 21^st birthday present than a landslide victory for Obama. We watched with incredulous eyes as Anderson Cooper turned nearly every state red, illustrating the near impossibility of a McCain victory. I stood back as my Irish friend Gemma furiously explained the impact the US has on Ireland and how we don’t even know it. At 4am, they turned Iowa blue and I (literally) jumped for joy and got a round of applause as the token Iowan. I also got several pats on the back when Ohio turned blue, mostly from Americans who either couldn’t hear me say “I’m from IOWA” over the noise of the crowd or didn’t actually know the difference. Still, they’re both the right colors.

I was thinking last week about what an amazing opportunity it has been to be abroad during all of the election hype. I mean, as an Iowan, I’ve been experiencing the election for nearly two years. It’s been two State Fairs for sure. After our population diminished by half in January 2008 (as all of the candidates, staffers, and media moved on to the Super Tuesday states), the election wasn’t nearly as exciting for us Iowans. I went from talking to 3 candidates a week to zero. My summer in DC gave me an interesting perspective as I heard people who actually know the candidates personally talking about the individuals – not just the candidates. But being here… I just didn’t appreciate the way in which the US dominates international politics. I knew that we were “a pretty big deal” to steal the phrase from a friend. Yet I didn’t realize how invested the common European was in the election. Not even particularly politically-inclined people.

I first began to understand when some American ex-pats came to Iowa from England in January to do some campaigning for Richardson and Obama and attended the caucuses with us. But still I didn’t appreciate it. The international community follows US elections as much as Americans do – maybe even moreso. Maybe even more than they follow their own elections. I’m not suggesting that they know every detail, but they know that their lives will be affected by the next president. Bush certainly affected them enough.

As I made my way back to Leiden from Madrid this morning, I was at a bus stop and a man asked me a question in Dutch. I apologetically told him I only speak English. Oh, where are you from? he asked, switching to English as so many Dutch are able to do. America, I said. He grinned. After asking me who I was supporting and if I had voted, he expressed his own excitement over the change that will come. Then he unzipped his jacket to reveal a blue sweater bearing the American flag. A Ghanaian man living in the Netherlands wearing an American flag for Election Day – it was quite a sight.

Of course, the Europeans know who they’re supporting. In the Netherlands, throughout all of the political discussions I’ve had, and there have been many – there were 3 debate parties leading up to the election and that’s usually the default small talk conversation when an international student meets an American – I met only one McCain supporter, and he’s American. As one Dutch student told me, it’s ok that he supports McCain, because he’s American. He cares about domestic policy. I don’t know about domestic policy, maybe McCain is better. But for foreign policy, it’s Obama all the way. It’d be stupid for any non-American to support anyone other than Obama.

And last night, our dreams came true. In a landslide victory. The five of us from my house that attended the party waited until 4am when Iowa was announced, then rushed home trying to stay warm and get back before Obama’s acceptance.

We arrived back in plenty of time, but as soon as I sat down to keep watching I was out. I’d gotten 1.5 hours of sleep the night before and while the nap helped, it only kept me going for so long. I went up to my room at 5am and my computer started ringing (internet calling). I answered the phone to my sister Mary bearing the good news. Then Mom joined the video call and we shared our election night experiences. I hung up and not 3 minutes later my friend Amy called to share the excitement too. As I crawled into bed, I got a text message from my sister Helen saying “We did it!” And that’s exactly how it felt. Not “he” did it. “We” did it. Americans came together. My parents knocked on doors, my sisters made phone calls, I sent emails. We were behind him and we, we Americans, did it. We have a new President-elect. An African-American. A democrat. An American. A man that we believe in. He’s no messiah, but he has instigated the largest voter turn-out and made people believe in America again. Already, still two months before he takes office, Americans have improved their standing in the international community, a community that breathed a sigh of relief and said, Finally! Thank you, America.

I woke the next morning having slept through the alarm I had set to watch Obama’s speech live and through my 9am class as well. Oops. It’s ok. I figure last night was a better political science lesson than I would have gotten in class this morning. Watched the two speeches and was impressed by both of them. I expected Obama to impress me, but McCain came as a surprise. Whoever his speechwriter is has got a strong career ahead of him. And his response to the crowd booing Obama was classy. Barack was fastastic as well. Maybe it was just that they both were finally saying something new - finally. (See “Synchronized Presidential Debating”) Barack’s story about the 106 year old woman was well told and illustrated several good points. My favorite part, though, was when he said, “To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn: I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your President too.” Classy.

So now we celebrate. And recover. And in January, we begin anew.