Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts

Friday, January 16, 2009

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Turn the page

plane crash just a few blocks from my apartment has dampened considerably the election elation in Mexico City. The sounds of sirens provided an eerie backdrop to the Embassy party last night. We stood on a balcony and spotted plumes of smoke rising from the park, while we were served wine, hot dogs and hamburgers by a white-tuxedoed catering staff.

The big screens in the banquet hall switched back and forth between cheering crowds in Chicago, and Mexican pedestrians running for their lives from a plane crash that many suspect was an act of drug cartel terrorism. My friends and I stood and stared, in awe of the complex world that awaits Barack Obama's administration. From the conversations I had with Mexicans my age last night, many of whom are embarking on their own careers in Mexican politics and government, the relief we shared over Obama's victory was only deepened by their overwhelming uneasiness about Mexico's security.

But we couldn't keep from celebrating. I wound up at an expat bar just in time to catch Obama's speech, after calling my parents in a speeding taxi and leaving an extremely jealous voicemail on my brother's phone as he celebrated in Grant Park. When I made it through the door, I stood on a chair, grabbed a random caballito of tequila and started scanning the crowd for my friends, with whom I immediately engaged in a mixture of hugging and borderline crowd-surfing.

And now the moment I've been waiting for, for four whole years. I present you with a fresh batch of online away messages and facebook statuses, compiled today at noon, which can finally replace this total bummer of a list from November 2004.

  • This facebooker is estatic. And can't find any copies of the Times.
  • This facebooker is riding high after witnessing history.
  • This facebooker is toasting to Obama: woo hoo!!
  • This facebooker is looking forward to the next four years...for once!
  • This facebooker can't stop smiling.
  • This facebooker is all smiles.
  • This facebooker is feeling so solid.
  • This facebooker is elated and speechless.
  • This facebooker is blown away by the city he loves. Sweet home of Obama. That rally was amazing guys... Mind blowing. I was also on Fox News!
  • This facebooker is so excited for the possibilities ahead.
  • This facebooker is screaming, "YES WE DID!"
  • This facebooker is celebrating...with wine.....and joy....and HELL YEAH!!
  • This facebooker doesn't know how she'll get anything done today.
  • This facebooker is Amavericka!
  • This facebooker feels American again.
  • This facebooker is choked-up.
  • This facebooker is whew.
  • This facebooker needs me some confetti!
  • This facebooker is at home in Ohio, politically speaking.
  • This facebooker is O(migodImProudOfMyCountry)bama.

The information presented here does not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.