24 hours in America

Here's an interesting blog that did what I did on election night, only a bit more wittily and with more sociability.

Obama's acceptance speech

Election Night Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama
As prepared for delivery, Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, in Chicago:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

It's Obama's.

4.19am McCain concedes - pretty graciously. He's being bipartisan. It's a world away from the 'them and us' rhetoric of George Bush. The crowd in Arizona is far from being a 'rainbow nation', it's extrordinarily white, clean-cut, preppy. This is the end of a political era.

4.13am moving to see the Kenyans celebrating.

4.00am Washington takes Obama over the threshold - he has to have won. The first African American to become the leader of the USA. So the work begins here.

3.53am John Simspon doing vox pops with the crowd in Chicago. Brings out the best, most generous and inlusive characteristics of the USA.

3.50am republican strategist guy says that they've alienated massive chunks of the population and that the republican party is in danger of becoming a 'rural rump'

3.46am The republican guy on the BBC panel looks slumped and defeated. He looks almost speechless.

3.39am Republicans are trying to be as bipartisan as they can. Karen Hughes agrees that it's historic that Obama has won...

Bush cowers in the White House

From a mole...

WASHINGTON, Nov 4, 2008 (AFP) - "Vastly unpopular US President
George W. Bush cloistered himself with family and friends as America
voted Tuesday, privately invoking God's blessing on whomever
succeeds him, his spokeswoman said.
Bush hosted a dinner with relatives and close aides, celebrating
US First Lady Laura Bush's birthday in a White House dining room
with a dinner ending with coconut cake, press secretary Dana Perino
said by email.
"The president gave a toast at the start of the dinner thanking
those present for all the work they've done and for their
friendship. He ended by saying, 'And may God bless whoever wins
tonight,'" she told reporters.
He also gave the first lady, who was turning 62, "a pair of
beautiful earrings," before members of the group settled in to watch
election returns from the residence section of the presidential
mansion, said Perino.
"The president believes tonight is a night to appreciate the
strength of our country and our democracy, as citizens from all over
the country exercised their right to vote today, after a historic
campaign," she said.
"The president is committed to a transition that is as smooth as
possible, a process that has been under way for many months, and as
soon as we have a president-elect we'll be able to do even more on
that front," said Perino.
She did not mention by name either of the rivals to become the
44th US president -- Bush's chosen successor and fellow Republican
John McCain, or Democrat Barack Obama.
Bush endorsed McCain in a high-profile public White House event
in March, but the Arizona senator has mostly fled from the
incumbent, who is vastly unpopular with US voters.
In recent days, Bush has barely appeared in public -- and then
sometimes only for seconds as he walked from his Oval Office to the
Marine One presidential helicopter on his way from the Camp David
retreat.
Perino has blamed the heavy workload from the global financial
crisis, the war in Georgia, or recent hurricanes, while
acknowledging that Bush was mostly a burden for McCain.
"The Republican Party wanted to make this election about John
McCain, and that's appropriate," she said Monday.
Bush "realizes that this election is not about him," but
"remains hopeful that John McCain will pull it out," she told
reporters.
"But he also is realistic about the political environment that
we're in."
"This president has taken on really big issues, and he's been
tested in many ways, and this is a president who has done big
things. And often when you do big things and you make tough
decisions, they're not popular," said Perino.
As early returns came in on Tuesday, Bush congratulated
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Indiana
Governor Mitch Daniels -- the president's first budget chief -- on
their victories, said Perino. "

Firming up...and melting down

3.07am The BBC's coverage has just lost all its sound. so it's a bizarre parade of talking heads without the sound.

2.52 This is a great election for the City of Chicago. It certainly bolsters the odds of Chicago hosting the 2014 Olympics, and boosts its standing as a great world city.

2.50 with 61% of precincts declared, Obama is at 51% in Florida.

2.49 "a new america is about to be born tonight" says one ex-republican stockbroker convert to Obama

2.43 Huffington Post reporting that it's really tight in Virgina - Obama might edge it but McCain thus far is marginally ahead.

2.41 Despite being massively ahead in electoral college votes, Obama only leads in the popular vote by 1%. Very interesting how the system works. Certainly will bode for a difficult re-election in 4 years time.

2.34am John Bolton is such a boneheaded idiot. GIves good value as a combative panelist but he's a paranoid reactionary and it's interesting how out of touch he sounds.

2.31am Arizona is tied - if Obama defeats McCain in his home state then it's more than a wipeout or a rout, it's a gaping pit of destruction.

OK, now the projections

2.27am Bush is completely absent/invisible. I can't recall an election when the sitting president has been so absent. They've had him locked away for days....

2.02am Fox news calls Ohio for Obama.

2.01am What an amazing, diverse, variegated country the US is.

1.58am The republican 'victory' party looks like a funeral reception

1.37am BBC showing Obama on the move in a great big motorcade in Chicago. He's making the transition to president in waiting. The iconography is changing.

1.33am Is Obama George Bush's gift to the world? Or George Bush's real legacy?

1.29am I wonder where George Bush is and what he's thinking right now?

1.22am Critique of the McCain campaign, which the pundits are beginning to unpick already; "the fish rots from the head"

1.21am Obama had Bruce Springsteen in Ohio; McCain's got the Phoenix Boys' Choir trying to cheer up the republicans in Arizona

1.15am Elizabeth Dole loses North Carolina. Looks like Obama could have NC in the bag.

1.10am The mood has changed. Looks like a total wipeout for the republicans.

1.04am Looking like a landslide for Obama. Virginia, Ohio, Colorado...even if McCain takes Florida and Ohio (unlikely) he can barely win.

Early indications

12.50am According to the Guardian, "Obama's at 57%-42% with 80% of precincts reporting, in "the most bellwether county in the country," Vigo County, Indiana, which apparently has only gone against the national result twice since 1892. "

12.48am BBC reporting raw stuff from the blogosphere about Indiana tilting towards Obama - looking at big urban centres...

12.43am Networks are being very slow in calling results. Possible that some of the red states are much closer than people expect.

12.41am BBC broadcasting a valedictory speech by McCain to his press pack on board his plane this afternoon - he looks very tired, very old. He's trying to be upbeat but you can tell that he's almost ruled out winning.

12.38am This interesting bit of social media at the New York Times site gives some insight into how people are feeling at the moment. Personally I'm feeling that it's possible that McCain could do better than everyone thinks. THe conservative base vote should never be underestimated.


12.19am Crowd piling into Grant Park in Chicago - massively symbolic, given the 1968 convention and Chicago's heritage as a Democratic stronghold. Huge historical resonance here as a 'healing'/reconciling moment?

One thought is that we can thank George Bush for all of this - without 8 years of George Bush it's almost impossible to imagine Obama winning

12.10am Mark Warner (D) takes the Senate seat in Virginia