Nobody can contest that November 4th, 2008 was a historic day. Electing a black, or more specifically, a racially mixed president, is something that our European counterparts have yet to accomplish. And from reports pouring in, the world celebrates the honor with America.
This election day, Aaron and I were separated by thousands of miles (8492 miles to be exact), he in New Orleans for one of his open source conferences and I here in Hong Kong.
For Aaron, November 4th started with an “un-conference” where those who attend suggest and organize the day’s agenda the morning of the event. This was a precursor to the proper, traditional conference, ApacheCon, which would take place over the next three days in New Orleans. Aaron had flown from Hong Kong on October 31st arriving in New York City for Halloween. After spending the night with our friends in the Big Apple, my traveling hacker took an early morning flight to New Orleans and spent his 30th birthday squirreled away in meetings planning a technical conference for Amsterdam next spring. By election day, jetlag had started to wear off and he waited the anxious hours by arguing the respective merits of git or subversion with his fellow computer geeks.
For me, November 4th came and went without any election results. Being a full 13 hours ahead of the US east coast timezone meant that I had to try and sleep wondering who my fellow Americans would choose as our next leader.
At 8am, I bounced down to the ferry wearing my “Obama ‘08” tee-shirt. Hoots and hollers of excitement followed me to the pier. Most of my fans were Chinese, which surprised me because racism is still an issue here in the far east. Perhaps this election could bring hope to more than one people and country?
The air of excitement continued on the ferry ride. I overheard a Brit saying: “My mother is an American passport holder, but she hasn’t lived in the US for 30 years. She hasn’t voted in a US presidential election in 40 years! This election, she broke that, and voted for Obama.”
By 9am, I was at the Hong Kong Club Building in Central. On the 15th floor, a large open-air room was devoted to the election watch. There was a polling area for a local day-of election. Many under 18 year-olds were happy to cast their vote, even though it didn’t count in the real US election. Five big-screen TVs were scattered throughout the room. Red, white, and blue balloons beautifully adorned the walls, along with full-sized American flags. The room was packed and hot! By noon, there were easily 300 people there. Hong Kong newspapers reported 3,000 people attending the watch-party throughout the day. Free coffee, juice, soda and water were provided, along with free granola bars.
Meanwhile Aaron’s un-conference finished as the very first election results started to trickle in. He joined a crowd of hungry geeks who wondered the streets of New Orleans in search of food and drink. After finishing off a plate of fried oysters and a stroll to Cafe du Monde, he returned to the hotel to join the crowd gathering in the spacious Sheraton hotel lobby. CNN was projected on a huge screen with regular updates as state after state turned blue, eliciting cheers and applause.
Those cheers were joined with my own and others that morning in Hong Kong, though not everyone at the function was an Obama supporter. The many volunteers were claiming to be bi-partisan, but the color of their dress was obviously favoring a certain candidate. I talked to a few republicans about why they were voting for John McCain, who has fewer fans abroad.
A woman from Georgia commented, “It’s just in my blood to vote Republican. It’s deep in my southern blood.” A High School boy who was there to gather information for a research paper explained, “I appreciate the fundamentals of the Republican party.” Then we argued for ten minutes about if those fundamental values are still intact today.
Then, simultaneously around the world, the climatic moment arrived. CNN projected Barack Obama as the election winner and future 44th president of the United States.
There were many teary eyes. I cried. We all wept for joy. The crowd in the Sheraton in New Orleans erupted into applause. The geeks set laptops and twitter aside and shared hugs and high fives.
I sent a text message to my friend who couldn’t watch the results: “CNN projected Obama victory. It’s in the bag now…dance in the streets!” She replied: “Got goosebumps. Hooray!” Another British friend sent me a message immediately after the CNN projection: “Well done! Thank god for that.”
Before 1pm, I left the Hong Kong Building and strangers congratulated me and my country:
“America finally did it!”
“On behalf of my country, we thank Americans for electing Barack Obama.”
“It’s a proud day for Americans.”
When I got home, Maeli and I blasted “We are the Champions” by Queen. On my Facebook status, I wrote:
“I’m proud to be an American… something I haven’t been in 8 years. OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! Three cheers!!!
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