There's nothing like watching history-in-the-making.
If you're a Democrat, there was no better place to be last night than Chicago's Grant Park, but for dems in Dallas, a close second was Oak Cliff's Bishop Arts District. The Dallas County Democratic Party closed down Bishop Avenue from Davis to Eighth, and had two giant screens fixed on CNN. When the news team called the election for Obama, pandemonium erupted. The entire place began chanting "Yes, we did! Yes, we did!"
Most people stuck around for Obama's speech, and the screams and cheers went completely silent as people listened to the president-elect. It was a night full of elation and hope, with people shedding tears, shouting "Amens", and hugging complete strangers.
A friend of mine who lives elsewhere watched the returns at a sports bar. She's not much of a sports fan, so observed, "I imagine this is what it feels like to closely and passionately follow sports events." I mentioned this to Advocate publisher Rick Wamre this morning, and he agreed — on any given Saturday, he said, you can head into Humperdink's and observe people having the same elated reaction to a UT game.
As long as UT wins, of course. If UT loses, the response might compare to the other half of America last night — viewing it as a sign of the apocalypse.
Here's more about the democrats' election night watch party, in as many places as I could (quickly) find stories:
Comments