We were invited by a friend to the private election night party for the US Embassy and I could not have been more excited. I have been waiting for this election for a long eight years, but I could never have predicted that I would be rooting for a candidate that inspired so much hope in the world.
There were about 100 people at the party. There was a lot of food, drinks, a good band, and TVs with the major channels. The life-size cutout of Obama was the most popular for pictures, and the Obama buttons disappeared right away. The bowl of McCain buttons stayed full all night. I only saw a few older people with McCain buttons and strangely, about the same number of obvious Obama supporters. Why? Because the embassy staff is not allowed to demonstrate any kind of party support. So where did all those Obama buttons go?
The US ambassador made a few remarks to the hoardes of press about how historic the election was. He did a good job of hiding his true feelings as a republican Bush appointee. But when I was standing next to him watching the positive Obama results on CNN, he was unusually silent and somber. His time to leave will soon come.
I did an interview with a newspaper reporter in a mixture of Portuguese and English because I did not know all of the words in Portuguese that I wanted to say. It felt good to see my comments in print next to the Ambassador's. This is what I said:
Votei no Obama porque é preciso uma nova forma interface dos EUA com o mundo. Ele é muito inteligente, tranquilo, e vai saber diplomático nas negociacões. Obama tocou o coração das pessoas com esperança.
Roughly translated: I voted for Obama because a new form of interface is needed between the USA and the world. He is very intelligent, calm, and knows how to be diplomatic in negotiations. Obama touched the heart of people with hope.
We went home early(12:30) since Patrícia and I both had to work in the morning, but I watched CNN until 3 am local time for the networks to call the race. I thought it was too good to be true and yet it happened. It still feels like a dream. Let's see what happens.
In my travels around the world, I have seen first hand what the world thinks of Bush. I met many many many people that are disgusted with him, fear him, and even a few people that want to kill him (some scary young men in Jordan). I love my my country dearly, but I have not been proud of my government's actions. All this has changed with such sudden, overwhelming force, that it is almost too hard to believe. How can it be possible to switch from almost universal resentment and fear of the American government to a truly polar opposite worldwide feeling of goodwill and hope? Obama has an immense challenge before him. Thankfully, he also has an unbelievable amount of support behind him: a popular majority, a Democratic congress, and the world. Facing the terrible crises that we are, I still feel hope.
