More Election Thoughts

Before the momentous feeling of this election has completely escaped from me, I had a few more things I wanted to capture.

1. The night of the election, CNN kept showing the electoral map. I was really amazed at the sea of blue from New England to Minnesota, all the way across the eastern half of the United States. I liked this quote from Nancy Gibbs in Time.

He let loose a deep blue wave that washed well past the coasts and the college towns, into the South through Virginia and Florida, the Mountain West with Colorado and New Mexico, into the Ohio Valley and the Midwestern battleground: you could almost walk from Maine to Minnesota without getting your feet wet in a red state.

2. I've been moved by the international reaction to the election of a black man to the presidency of the USA. I think that in many other countries, and I'm thinking specifically about Europe here, that minorities are much more isolated from public life and the idea of one being elected to such heights is staggering, but also inspiring. Just my thoughts, here. I just read about how a woman in Kenya named her twins, born on November 5, Michelle and Barack.

3. I liked this quote from Joe Klein:

Obama's victory creates the prospect of a new "real" America. We can't possibly know its contours yet, although I suspect that the headline is that it is no longer homogeneous. It is no longer a "white" country, even though whites remain the majority. It is a place where the primacy of racial identity...has been replaced by the celebration of pluralism, of cross-racial synergy...IT is a country that retains its ability to startle the world--and in a good way, with our freedom.

4. A good friend recently moved to Chicago and happened to get a ticket to Grant Park the night of the election. I love that the Obama campaign held their election night rally in such a public place with the ability to accomodate so many people. Anyway, here is her account of the night, with some pictures. What an amazing experience to be there, but like my sister in Denver said, I think there was something in the air everywhere.

5. I loved reading about how Obama has had the same barber for the last 15 years. And the challenges of providing security to him and his family in Hyde Park.