It's election day here in America. It's kind of a big deal. Here in NYC it seems that everyone is holding their breath. People are really superstitious. No-one wants to jinx it. The mood is pretty infectious. It’s widely recognized that this US election has engaged millions of previously disillusioned people to get involved.
So, given my baseline level of interest in politics (i.e. pathologically high) I have become completely engrossed. In the past week I have been unable to get to sleep without re-watching Obama's speech from the New Hampshire primary (It's like mother's milk). Last night not even that could coax me to sleep. And I’m certainly finding it hard to be at all productive at work today.
Apparently in the battleground states people have been queuing to vote since before dawn. In Pennsylvania, where I was door-knocking last weekend to support American friends in their quest to get out Philadelphia's urban Obama vote, nearly half a million new voters have been registered this year alone (On a previous base of approx 8.5 million registered voters). Authorities have been preparing for record voter turnout by training thousands of new poll workers and opening new voter centres.
Even in a Democrat stronghold like New York State the turnout is predicted to be at record levels. A work colleague here in New York city waited in line for an hour and half to cast her ballot. Biking to work today I passed a polling booth where the line stretched around the block. I stopped to speak to an elderly woman and get a result prediction from her. Initially tight-lipped, she eventually conceded that she 'hoped' it was 'a good result', and then added that if it wasn't she'd be moving to Canada. Full-on.
With all the polls predicting an Obama victory, and having witnessed the orchestration of an essentially perfect campaign by Obama's huge, well-organised and well-funded team, it's hard to imagine what else a Democrat would have to do to win the US presidency. If he does not win today, a lot of people in this country are going to find it very hard to get out of bed on Wednesday morning. And I'll be one of them.
There is just something about Obama that feels... Awesome. And the real magic is that he speaks to so many people of different backgrounds and persuasions. For evidence of this check out http://www.peopleinthemiddleforobama.org. It's impressive stuff.
I first heard Obama speak, in Boston, about 18 months ago. When you see him in person, I think the most striking thing is his 'normalness'. He appears real. This impression is helped immensely by the matter-of-fact comments he makes: Iraq was a mistake, all Americans should have healthcare, teachers should be paid more, overuse of oil must end. Basically, all the stuff you've always wanted a politician to say.
Since then the poor guy has been engaged in an incredibly protracted campaign for president. And at every step along the way he has looked more and more suited to the task. The Democrat ticket is so immensely better qualified than the Republican counterpart, and Obama had already done so much to deserve the keys to the White House, that the thought of that not eventuating just become untenable. It was that realisation that I think impacted me: he got himself so close - surely as nothing more than a citizen of this world (I can't vote in America) I was obliged to do what I could to nudge him over the finish line. And then I was on a train to Philadelphia...
So, it's nearly all over. All around me as I write this people are leaving work early to cast their votes. They're anxious. They've been disappointed before. But just like the placards say, they are filled with hope. And that hope will be more than enough to get them through the long wait at the polling booth.
Good luck planet earth. See you on the other side.
Richard Pole is a New Zealand trained physician who recently completed an MBA at Harvard Business school. He now lives in Park Slope in Brooklyn, and works in nonprofit healthcare management in NYC. He enjoys extreme commuting (i.e. biking from Brooklyn to Manhattan for work each day), shopping at the Park Slope Food Co-op and talking to Americans about America.
Show/Hide comment form
