Election Day Thoughts

What an exhilarating week! Sam and I missed being in the States for the election, well to some degree, though I’m safe in saying we didn’t miss the election season at all. We are fortunate to have a pretty bi-partisan group of friends and no doubt for each of you who are happy with the results of this contest; there are some, who are now mourning the loss. 2008 was an exceptional year with two exceptional people running. History was the real winner in this race.

This is not a political blog and I refuse to give my take on the candidates themselves. There’s enough of that on-line and my life is better lived without the rubbish of politics dominating my thoughts. However, I will give you my observations on our night.

We had a grand time staying up all night watching the returns. We popped over to the Student Union where there was an election party for students. It turned out to be a tremendous letdown and a bit younger of a crowd than we are used to rolling with. While waiting for a single malt in the bar line, for twenty minutes, I heard a long conversation from two men behind me about the sexuality of the Republican Vice-Presidential contender. It was not my sort of event. I knew we were in the wrong place when the bartender called me “Sir”.

We bagged-in the campus event and came home to watch the returns without the stench of idiocy around us. We put on the BBC and watched MSNBC live on our computer. Sam made snacks and we stayed up until 5:00 am (Midnight EST). This made our Wednesday a bit of a wash but it was worth it for such a historic moment. We simply couldn’t say, in fifty years, that we went to bed early rather than see this defining moment, irrespective of political persuasion. No cliché is apt to the change that will face our nation in coming months.

The Scots were very interested in this election. Even the conservative papers in England have given Obama high marks and McCain, and especially Palin, very low marks. I can’t tell you how many questions I have gotten about this election over here – ones that I was largely incapable of answering.

Perhaps the most moving moment, for me at least, came at 4:30 am on Wednesday morning. Senator Obama was the new President-Elect and we had watched McCain give his elegant concession speech. I took Penny out before we turned in. I put on her harness, pulled on my toggle coat outside of my pajamas, and we walked up the street to a small green nearby. In every townhouse on our street, there was at least one flat, with the lights on, the residents sitting up and watching the election night coverage of a foreign nation, live, all night long.

I have always known that the nation of my birth was a special place: indeed, I was raised with a certain sense of national pride. I have never been prouder of my nation that in the effect that this election, that this historic moment, had on people over here. You can detest the results of this contest and decry the new President all you want; however, a sense of hope transcended the Atlantic and was burning in the lights of living rooms of a cold, skeptical, nation. This is truly remarkable.

Congratulations America,

Ian