Election time in Seattle

I can't imagine a more exciting time to arrive in a country. I made it to Seattle in the north-west of the United States a day before the 2008 general election. In many countries the majority of people are apathetic at best about the prospect of fact of an election. It was a nice change to see some excitement and interest in politics. Admittedly 2008 was far from an ordinary election. After almost 8 years where the reputation of the country had plummeted internationally, the rest of the world seemed keen for a change also.

Despite many opinion polls predicting a crushing win by Barak Obama, a sense of pessimism still prevailed amongst many even right up to election day. Almost nobody was prepared to predict an Obama victory without qualification. There was an expectation that something would happen that would deny Obama victory. In Seattle however, there was little sign of any republican opposition. Maybe this was the "Left" coast of the US after all.

The After Party

The longest ques of the day started in the afternoon outside famous after party venue, the Showbox with the line stretching all the way around the corner even after the venue was full. The mood visibly changed from uncertainty to optimism at early results. When Senator John McCain conceded defeat, the last signs of pessimism were gone and the country erupted into celebration.

The sight of Obama's victory speech brought tears to the eyes of millions. It seemed that the United States had seen the ray of hope and now had a direction out of the present darkness. While Obama urged Americans to rebuild the country block by block, it was clear that this process could not begin until after a long night of celebration on the streets of the nations cities.

I doubt that Hollywood could come up with a better fairytale.

Dawn of a New Era?

I rose a little late on the morning after the election, still recovering from the previous nights festivities, which ran well into the morning. After I got up I went across the road to the news agent, expecting to be able to buy a newspaper as a souvenir of this historic event. Apparently I wasn't alone in this idea, because the newsagent had sold out of papers. Instead of a pile of papers, there was a sign: "Sorry: New York Times SOLD OUT!! THATS IT - NO MORE TODAY - REALLY! STOP ASKING! ALL OUT!!". Not to be too easily deterred, I decided to go on a walk and see if I could find a paper in one of the city's many vending machines.

Walking around Seattle I had the feeling that the whole city had a hangover and was sleeping in. Those that were awake couldn't seem to work out what to make of the night before. There really wasn't much happening. The warm sunshine of election day was gone, replaced by a blanket of cloud that threatened to turn into drizzle at any moment. It was as if the country had started to realise that despite the election win, the incumbent would occupy the White-house for almost 2 more months.

My quest for a paper was turning out to be futile. Each of the vending machines I encountered was empty. After about an hour of walking the streets, I'd resigned myself to the fact that there wouldn't be any papers left, so turned my hunt into one for food instead and headed back to an excellent Chicken shop that was near the hostel I was staying at. As I passed the city's museum, I chanced upon what I'd been looking for - a lone USA today declaring "America Makes History: OBAMA WINS. When I opened the vending Machine, I discovered that it was indeed the last newspaper in the box.