Wednesday, November 5, 2008

A HISTORICAL NIGHT

That was the general consensus for most of the crowd who spent more than a few hours, closely observing the results of the U.S. Presidential Election. The crowd itself was predominantly Pro-Obama, though there were your share of hardcore McCain supporters in the house as well. All through the evening you couldn't help but to feel anticipation in the air as the votes were being tabulated. Lots of friendly banter (for the most part) between the camps, however, as the night wore on and it became more and more certain that Barack Obama would win, the McCain contingent began filing out of the bar.

Then shortly before midnight, the announcement was made: BARACK OBAMA ELECTED PRESIDENT and the place erupted in celebration. There were elated folks, shocked folks, folks staring at the TV in tears.... it was a surreal moment.

After the initial celebration, John McCain came on to do his concession speech. The place grew quiet and aside from a small contingent of annoying drunk and rude chicks who kept making comments about him, everyone hung on McCain's every word. He was very gracious in defeat and the majority of the crowd in the bar showed their appreciation by giving him a genuine heart-felt applause.

The Obama contingent then began celebrating again while waiting for the President-elect to make his victory speech. When that moment finally came, again the place was reduced to a hush as everyone stared at the TV's around the bar and took in the moment, realizing that the piece of history they had been waiting for all night was about to fall into place.

As expected, the speech stirred a lot of emotion amongst the crowd. Whenever the President-elect said something noteworthy, the crowd ate it up and showed their appreciation. Afterwards, many people left the bar with smiles on their faces while others whooped it up in the streets; it felt in a lot of ways like a smaller version of the celebration that the neighborhood saw when the NY Giants won the Super Bowl.

Now that history has finally taken place, the real test begins in 77 days. Love him or hate him, he's now the leader of your country and mine for the next four years. Let's hope we make the most of it.

Coming up, the night in pictures.



Nuff Said.