History would be made regardless of who won the 2008 presidential election, held on November 4. Either the US would have its first African American president, Barack Obama, or its first female vice president, Sarah Palin. I voted before going to work and waited in line for a little more than an hour at my polling place at an NYU dorm in Greenwich Village, which was across the street from Washington Square Park. Happily, the sun was shining and the line of voters was buzzing with anticipation. And although I had been a supporter of Hillary Clinton during the primaries I was happy to cast my ballot for Obama.
I watched election coverage on CNN when I got home from work that night. I planned to go to the gym but got caught up in the very encouraging returns, especially from traditional "red" states such as Indiana, Virginia and North Carolina. Later in the evening I called my mother in Pittsburgh to talk about the impending good news. Then as soon as the polls closed in California (11PM in the East) CNN declared Obama the winner. The streets in my Greenwich Village neighborhood erupted in wild cheers as if the Yankees or Mets had won the World Series. And the partying atmosphere continued all night.
Obama's acceptance speech in Chicago was somber but inspiring. A few minutes earlier he and his family had walked onto a large stage in front of one million ecstatic supporters, a setting that seemed almost European in style with its pomp and pageantry. At one point a crowd shot showed Jesse Jackson wiping away tears. Meanwhile Obama's opponent, John McCain, gave a very gracious concession speech. As usual his wife Cindy, looked stunning in a chic yellow-gold outfit (and likely thrilled that the campaign was over) - in contrast to the peculiar choice of a dress that Michelle Obama wore.
Previous blog posts I've published about two other presidential elections:
Since 1960 there have been four very close presidential elections*. One of them - 1976's race between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford - happened to be the first I voted in (but I voted by absentee ballot since I was away at college at Penn State). Ford was the incumbent, immortalized by Saturday Night Live'sChevy Chase for his clumsy (albeit congenial) nature. Meanwhile Carter came out of nowhere (nowhere being Plains, Georgia) - trailblazing a path that future Democratic presidents Clinton and Obama would also take.
A month before the election Carter made a campaign stop at the Beaver Valley Mall which was adjacent to campus. It was Saturday morning and a group of us walked there to see if we might catch a glimpse of him. I got close enough to snap the photo to the right (as you can see, of poor quality), but a bit too close for the Secret Service agents when I ducked under some barricades. I'm sure if it had been 30 years later I would have been tackled and 'cuffed rather than just pushed back.
The autumn of '76 was also memorable because I had my one - and only - girlfriend at that time (I came to the realization that I was gay the following summer). And what sticks with me about this election was that Carrie was a Ford supporter. This was hard for me to reconcile because I had the naive notion in my head that everyone in my circle of friends would have similar political leanings. After all, how could someone I enjoyed being with have such a different view when it came to politics? (I had a similar feeling when I joined Facebook and was taken aback by troubling political comments made by some of my "friends".) It just so happened that ours was a short-lived relationship and this would be one of the final nails in the coffin.
On Election night I had sign-in duty at my dorm, a co-ed building in which girls lived on one side, guys on the other. Members of the opposite sex were required to sign in to visit the "other side" after 8:00. I heard election returns in piecemeal fashion and was in bed long before Carter was declared the winner at 3:30 AM (I had to be up early for my 8:00 philosophy class.) His victory was delivered by Ohio, which he won by just 0.27% - beating Ford by 11,000 votes out of four million cast. Of course, I was delighted - even more so because it gave me bragging rights over Carrie and her vexing choice. (Post script: 33 years later Carrie and I became reacquainted on Facebook).