8/14/2019 a8 the Metropolitan November 6, 2008

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This is going to be a di cult col-umn to write. Right now, the votesare still being counted and many o the countrys polls are still open. Iam writing without any impression

or how this thing will turn out, asiderom breaking news, my gut and the

predictions I have already made. But Ihave always relied heavily on my gut,and my predictions are no worse than.500, so I have no doubt that I will bewell served here.

It does seem appropriate, in asense, that I write about this elec-

tion as it is happening and be ore thepundits distort the moment rom ret-rospect, and be ore I orget what thiselection really means. I am still in themoment, as they say, where the out-come is unclear and everything is stillup or grabs. My perspective is not yettainted with results, and even thoughthe only hard numbers I have seenare rom early exit polls, there is asense that the Obamaic wave is nal-ly about to roll onto shore. Whetherit will food the beach or recede backinto the ocean o political history,however, is still to be determined.

It was early in the 17th centurywhen black slaves were rst broughtto Jamestown, and now in the rstdecade o the 21st century, a blackman is on the verge o winning thepresidency o the United States. Thisis historic, and it has power ul mean-

ing worldwide. I eel distinctly privi-

leged to be watching this election as ithappens, and, although I am hesitantto express my belie in it a ter what Ihave seen or the past eight years, de-mocracy is exciting and I am enjoy-ing it tonight.

This is the only time, ElectionDay and speci cally election night,where it is clear to me exactly who isin control o th is country. Politiciansand their parties aside, what matterson this night are numbers. And thosenumbers are symbolic o people.They are, in act, people. There areno words, manipulations or bullshito any kind Washington is capable o producing that can stem the down-pour o people coming out in massto voice their will. A lot o politicians jobs are on the line, and they are ner-vous about it. Tonight, the people arein command.

The live pictures o the distinc-tion between the Biltmore Hotel inArizona and Grant Park in Chicagowhere John McCain and BarackObama, respectively, are planning tospeak is pro oundly representative o this election as a whole. At the Bilt-more, there are people in suits nota whole lot o themgathered in ronto a typical-looking stage awaitingtheir politician and his predictablewords. At Grant Park, a sea o peoplehave gathered, 70,000 with ticketsto get close and hundreds o thou-

sands more around the area and inthe streets, to hear Barack Obamaspeak on the most important electionwe may ever see. Helicopter imageso Grant Park depict a scene reminis-cent o the civil rights gatherings o the 1960s. It all looks something likea rock concert, perhaps a Beatles re-union. The general will o the peopleis visible tonight.

Pat Buchanan said on nationaltelevision that the conservativeera has passed. That is perhaps thesmartest thing I have ever heard himsay. Or maybe just the smartest thingI have heard him say tonight. Despitethe act that I agree with almost noth-ing that Pat Buchanan ever says, Irespect him and listen when he talks.He has personality and seems tohave a respectable grasp on what heis saying. The conservative political

empire that started with Dick Nixon,or perhaps more solidly with RonaldReagan, has nally ended. The Demo-crats though, I would re rain romopenly considering them a lock, stockand barrel alternative have takenover.

And now breaking news: . . .There it is. NBC has just projectedBarack Hussein Obama to be thenext president o the United States.Cali ornia, Oregon and Washingtonhave all come in. The numbers keeprising, and they are bluer and bluer

by the moment. The man has done it.He has won, and it was not by meanso anything more than the will o theAmerican people.

I have written a number o unsa-vory things about Barack Obama, andI have meant every word. But I voted

or him, and I am more than proud o that. He has li ted the hopes o peoplein this country in a way that nobodyhas ever seen be ore. The brilliance o his accomplishment and also that o the American people is unmistakable.America will not sleep tonight. She isrumbling, and she is proud.

I have a deadline to meet, and somy words must necessarily be short.But let it be said that nothing I havewritten here is worthy o describingwhat has happened in the UnitedStates on this night, Nov. 4, 2008. Letthis moment live on orever.

BIGGER VIEW

Into the wild

INSIGHTA8 THE METROPOLITAN NOvEMbER 6, 2008

Strange pride in peoples symbolic power

End of Days

Illustrated by ANDREW HOWERTON, ahowert2@mscd.edu

JIMMIE BRALEY jbraley@mscd.edu

THE POINT: The conservaTive era has come To an end

It was a hard loss, no question about it ... we showedsome great character coming back... it wasnt enough,

but next time it hopefully will be. MENS SOCCER FORWARD OLA SANDQUIST ON A12

I was messing around in Tulsalast week and got talking with a bigburly man with a McCain/Palinpin on his blue blazer who told mehe was descended rom yellow-dog Democrats who thought thesun rose and set over FDR and Re-publicans were people who worespats and top hats and sailed o Newport. So I told him that my

Republican ancestors believed thatonly lazy people were unemployedin the Thirties. He said, So eacho us is heading back to wherethe other one is coming rom. He

ound that rather amusing. I said,I thats so, I hope youre ready tobe good and poor and endure somehard Minnesota winters.

Poor, yes. Good, Im not sosure about. Winter, no. No way.

The country longs or a pres-ident who can talk and think atthe same time. Weve been lockedup with the Current Occupant orway too long and the thought o replacing him with the Angry OldMan o the Desert and Whoopeethe Ice Queen is miserable in theextreme.

Most o my Republican riendsare people who are not ashamed o having worked hard and done wellin school, and their partys ranticappeal to anti-intellectualism isnothing they care to sign up or.Time to nip that sucker in the bud.The party needs to re orm itsel around some coherent philosophyo governance and vision o the

uture and or that, it must takea trip to the wilderness. They arequietly supporting the skinny guy

this time around. They might tell apollster otherwise but thats whatthey will do. Call it the Palin E ect.

Even Mr. Burly o Tulsa ex-pressed sorrow over McCainscampaign, the jerkiness and des-peration o it, and admiration orObamas steadiness, his cool, hisstraight orward articulation andthe old- ashioned story o his risein the world.

In America, a man is notheld responsible or choosing hisparents, only or his own li e andconduct. (Obama) promises to takeus into a new era where we arentde ned by our di erences, Shortvs. Tall, Pale vs. Freckled, and cantake a deep breath and do whatsbest or the country.

ByGarrison Keillor distributedby Tribune Media Services.Oct. 28, 2008

Uh ... Dick? Does that mean what Ithink it means?

The numbers are in ...

Barack Obama has beendeclared the next ...

-mhaak! Ill have tomake some calls.

Written by ANDREW FLOHR-SPENCE, spencand@mscd.edu