A Defining Moment in American History

Where did you vote on Election Day, 2008?  I started my day early by going to a Lutheran church and standing in line waiting for the polls to open at 7 am EST.  The wait was not terribly long. I entered the queue at 6.45 and was out of there by about 7:20.

I was, however, in the wrong line once I got inside the church. I didn’t know there would be separate lines, so I asked one of the staff members if I should stay to the left side or go right. She examined my license and told me to stay in the line that formed to the left. . By the time I got to the sign-in desk, I had that bad feeling that I should have been going right, unlike my political convictions this year.

Unassumingly, I moved over to the proper table, ducked behind a man signing in, showed my id quickly, added my signature to the form and proceeded to take my part in American history. 

The process was surprisingly smooth. I felt like heading down to Starbucks to get a free cup of joe. I had heard on the radio on my way to the polls that the java icon was offering a cup of coffee at no charge to people who took part in arguably the most important election in our time.

My dad called me later in the day to tell me that a photo capturing this momentous occasion showed me in the line earlier that morning. I was on the front page of the afternoon daily!  I raced down to the newsstand (ok, convenience store), and sure enough, there I was – amongst the early morning risers – eager to cast my ballot.

Later that night, resting in my easy chair, I flicked through the 100’s of channels covering the results of the day. From MSNBC to NBC; CBS to ABC: CNN and even Fox News, that “fair and balanced” channel, there was no shortage of poli pros who wanted to be the first to crown the new leader of the greatest country in the world. 

Watching and reflecting, no matter who turned out to be the winner, it’s a day to be proud of the most symbolic expression of our democratic ideals

I breathed a sigh of relief as I eased back a little more in my lounger. The longest election cycle known to man is over.  All that’s left is discussion about who won, who lost, why this demographic group voted the way they did, what the exit polls revealed, and how the Redskins loss the previous night foreshadowed a Democratic victory

Why did the white, non-college educated, evangelical male with two kids, making about $60,000 per year, who is a strong proponent of the second amendment, vote for McCain?; while the Latina, suburban Philadelphia, Catholic mom, with a master’s degree in marketing, the product of parents who never attended college, and works out at the gym at least 3 days a week, thought Obama would take the country in a better direction.

Suddenly, I feel a huge void in my life. No more Anderson Cooper with his roundtable of 20 pundits discussing how the economy favored Obama. No more Keith Olbermann telling the world that the lame attempt by McCain to link Obama with Bill Ayers was a miscalculation by the Republican camp. No more Brit Hume favoring the foreign policy strategies of the venerable Arizonan senator over the rookie Illinois congressman.

On, second thought, thank God this is over.

It’s now 11 pm EST, three hours after the polls have closed in many states. Brian Williams is calling it for Barack Hussein Obama.  This has truly been an amazing day to be an American.