The hour that the ship comes in

Yesterday, I was canvassing in NE Philadelphia, where people were really 'fired up,' as the Obama campaign says. It was a heavily Democratic area, with Obama signs in every store window and nearly every house. A couple of old ladies asked me for Obama pins. I had been given an extra one at the staging area, so the first time this happened I went ahead and pinned it on the woman's coat for her. The second old lady was very insistent on wanting one that I had bought for myself.
"What are you going to do with that pin after the election, that's what I want to know," she asked.
"What am I going to do with it? I plan on wearing it in four years, that's what." She burst out laughing, and thought that was a pretty good explanation.

Having canvassed and handed out fliers for hours (as well as eating an embarrassing quantity of Philly Cheesesteaks), we headed home. While on the bus, Pennsylvania was called for Obama. Everyone cheered, though most of us were still too wary to celebrate quite yet. A bit later, the back of the bus cheered again. "What happened? What state got called," we asked. "No, no--we're back in Brooklyn." We had just crossed the Verezzanno Narrows Bridge. Thank god we are not in Staten Island!


After we got back to Brooklyn, some of us went over to Obama HQ down in the Financial District for some last-minute phonebanking. We were calling Colorado and Nevada, where the polls had not yet closed. I had never seen an excited phonebank before, let alone anything like this. The energy there was incredible. Our calls kept getting interrupted when the campaign's internals would call new Electoral College or Senate victories, and everyone would cheer (even for obvious wins like New York and Maryland).

I was in the middle of dialing when a voice called out, "we won Ohio!" The noise was deafening, as we all knew what that meant. We had won. People were crying, and the staff had to start whipping us back into shape--it's not over! The polls haven't closed yet in Nevada! Immediately after Nevada did close, the campaign called the state in our column (by double digits!), and kicked us out. Good job--go to the victory party at the Sheraton.


Once in Midtown, we were greeted by crowds celebrating in the streets, and an army of cabs and cars on 6th Ave honking their horns. We didn't make it into the party itself--the thousands gathered there spilled out into Rockefeller Center and the surrounding streets. NBC had built a very dramatic election night set, with the electoral map on the ice rink, huge screens showing the tv coverage, and banners up a skyscraper tallying the electoral votes.

The crowd was crazy--cheering and clapping at new calls for the Democrats, chanting "Obama, Obama," "Yes we can, yes we can," "No more Bush," and, finally, "Yes we did." We cheered for the (obviously exhausted) David Plouffe and David Axelrod, architects of the Obama campaign, and for David Patterson, our governor, announcing that we had finally taken the NY State Senate.
I hear that up at Sarah Lawrence College, the students chanted "USA, USA, USA" completely without irony. I can say with absolute confidence that this has never happened before.

In Midtown, people were crying and dancing in the streets. Others drove by in their cars honking and screaming out the windows. Complete strangers were hugging, three or four at a time. Somewhere there were fireworks going off. We all jeered and booed at Senator McCain's speech, and laughed at every mention of Governor Palin. But the crowd ultimately cheered his conciliatory gestures ("the American people have spoken, and spoken clearly." Damn right.) One of the people from the bus to Philly was calling her relatives in the South--"He just won Virginia--the capital of the Confederacy!" When Rachel finally got over her disbelief, she sent me a simple message: "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"
Oh, indeed.

The real celebration in New York seemed to be up in Harlem, but there was plenty to go around. The Midtown crowd cheered for a man shown on the screens dancing in the middle of 125th street while holding up a glass of champagne. In Chicago, Jesse Jackson didn't say a word--he just stood in the enormous crowd, weeping silently with his hand over his mouth. Congressman Lewis was barely holding his composure. In Washington DC, the White House was surrounded by thousands of people cheering and celebrating for hours, chanting "nana nana, nana nana, hey hey, goodbye!" (Ever classy, Republican pundits referred to black people celebrating in our nation's capitol as a "mob") In Philadelphia, the liquor stores sold out of champagne. These scenes were repeated in cities across the country.

When Barack Obama gave his first speech as President Obama, the whole crowd became completely silent, but for the raucous applause lines (and a bit of awkwardness at his invocation of our slave-owning founding fathers to the mostly non-white audience). After the speech, more crazy applause and chanting for First Lady Michelle Obama, and Joe The Vice President. After that, the crowd began to disperse, but there were still cars driving along the edges, honking and screaming, while chanting and cheers echoed between skyscrapers. More group hugs. On the subway, people spontaneously burst into applause and cheers.

Crazy things are happening. The big question for everyone? How to get down to Washington on January 20th.

Some photographs I took in Rockefeller Center:




And some videos posted by others of the celebrations in the Village:
First Avenue:

St. Marks: