I started writing in my journal the afternoon after Election Night.
– You can see all of my photos from Gainesville here
I’m coming home. Right now I’m at the airport in Charlotte about to fly back to SF from Gainesville. Obama crushed McCain last night. We spent our last day driving between houses on dirt roads in Interlochen, FL. There were so many volunteers from the community that they decided to send us an hour East into the McCain friendly boonies for some “virgin doors” just under three hours before the polls would close. Determined to go out with a bang, we got in the car and drove.
We finally made it there just after 5:00pm after nearly getting stuck in the sand on an abandoned road. We struggled to find the right streets, canvassing doors that were five minutes drive apart until well past dark. We managed to talk to five people, four of whom had already voting or were on their way to the polls just then. All of them looked a bit threatened to see four strangers for Obama as the sun was going down and the election was nearly over.
We came across the 70-something year old daughter of a 96 year old Obama supporter named Helen at around 6:15pm. The sun had gone down at that point and the daughter was not about to get her bed-ridden mother up to drive to the polls. Hesitating for a second with the thought that we could lose Florida by one vote and would never forgive ourselves, we decided to do the right thing and go on to the next house.
Our last house was a 32 year old democrat named Michael who drove a car with an “Assholes drive Jap cars” bumper sticker. Given that it was well past dark at 6:40pm, his house was all dark except for a television, and we weren’t sure how friendly Michael would be to a group of four strangers in the dark driving a Japanese car, we decided to skip the last house and head back to Gainesville.
Back in Gainesville, we celebrated until 1am with Democrats and Obamanites. It started with a few last minute phone calls to Nevada at around 8pm. That only lasted a few minutes until we got the call from Obama higher-ups that we’d won Pennsylvania and could go party. For the next two hours people were still in disbelief that Obama had it locked up. Fearing a miracle McCain comeback, fraud, or even a Bush-induced national emergency discounting the election (Jason’s idea), we held on until the polls closed in California at 10pm and McCain came on stage in Phoenix to concede.
People crowded the streets of Gainesville in celebration. I got scores of phone calls and text messages all night..
“Looking good in fl! We got PA!!”
“Ohio!”
“Its all happening!”
“I freakin love u all! Let’s lock in NC now!”
“Mad love”
“Here i am barack you like a hurricane!”
“Yes. We. Can.”
“This is amazing.”
“! ! ! Obama”
“Si se puede!”
My experiences in Gainesville were remarkable. I will never forget the electricity you could see in people. Our approach was so simple – make phone calls, knock on doors. But it was the context that was so extraordinary. Despite all the polls showing Obama up for weeks, nobody fully believed it. We worked every hour, every minute, and every second of the day for this election, as Barack asked us to do. An hour after the polls closed in Florida, the team was calling voters in Nevada to ask them to go vote. Right up until the moment that John McCain stepped on the stage and conceded victory, we held our breath. Now, here it is, two days later and I still can’t believe it.
The victory, however is bitter sweet. First of all, Obama inherits a broken country. So many lives have been ruined or lost around the world at the hand of our current president. That can never be undone. Further, expectations are so high, it will take incredible dedication from all of us, tremendous skill, and a lot of luck for Obama to succeed in his first term.
Finally, and most importantly, Election Night was not all positive. In Arizona, Florida, and yes, California, a majority of voters erased the rights of millions of Americans by passing constitutional bans on gay marriage. The fight is not over in California as legal and popular challenges heat up to Prop 8. However, a moral victory has been won for the opponents of same-sex marriage and I can’t help but feel guilt and remorse for choosing to come to Florida instead of fighting in my own state against this tragic ballot measure.
What gives me hope for Prop 8 and so many of the injustices that litter our political system at the moment, is that which made Obama’s win possible. I am hopeful because today is a new day in our country. We have proven that the politics of possibility can defeat the politics of division and fear. My hope is that the end of the old politics is upon us and that Dr. King’s words are now coming to bear, that the arc of the moral universe is long, but that it bends toward justice.
