Laughin' with Nancy

First comes shock, then awe. I was seriously expecting myself to run through the streets of Berlin, like some Olympic track star, in a complete haze, tears running down my face, chanting “Obama” “Obama” at the top of my lungs. Instead, when I awoke in the middle of the night on Tuesday, I could not stop myself from turning on CNN, where I caught the last few minutes of Obama’s speech. I was relieved, of course. But perhaps more confusing to me was my lack of jubilation as I climbed back into bed and told Chris “Obama hat gewonnen” and we both dozed off, back to dreamland.

Actually, my mood since the election has been some kind of strange disbelief, a non-realization of what has come to pass. I don’t know if it is the dire circumstances that surround the political environment; the pinnacle onto which O. has been thrust does not seem so regal at this trying a time. Perhaps it is simply disbelief that has colored the undercurrent of my mood. One thing is for sure, though, being emotionally overcome this morning for the first time since the election certainly denotes some kind of disconnect between last Tuesday night and today. I must have just needed time to come to believe that I AM awake, and that history HAS taken place, and I was there to witness it all. Cool. Unbelievably cool.

It looks like the mystique of the “Bubba vote” and the “Bradley Effect” were so incredibly disproved. My whinings as well about the incompetence of the American voter, as well, were disproved in one fell swoop. My theory, though, that the “Bubba vote” would be offset, and, ultimately, outweighed by a much more elusive and immeasurable effect (I guess what we can now call the “Obama Effect”) seems to be true.

The “Obama Effect”, my newest theory, is a phenomenon at the other end of the spectrum from the “Bradley Effect”. It describes a portion of the electorate deeply influenced by the injustices of the past, ridden with some form of ‘white guilt’ about how things have hitherto for been for minorities in our country, especially for blacks. These are the kinds of whites with big hearts that would have walked alongside their black brothers and sisters during the Civil Right Movement, the kind of whites who feel a deep empathy within, and have wanted to act on it for some time. These are the kind of whites, like me, who have waited their entire lives, for a black man to burst onto the scene, a well-educated, intelligent, articulate black man, for whom they could cast their vote.

Darkening in the bubble next to Barack’s name was a moment that I will always remember, because, for me, it was an actual action, a defined almost anti-climactic physical manifestation of something within that I have wanted to express for a very long time. I feel that I did my part to give back to my African-American compatriots what my forefathers had stripped away from them—their dignity. Very symbolic, yes, but palpable all the same.

And, what was it that made me laugh and cry simultaneously this morning? What was it that prompted such an outright emotional response? Obama made a minor gaffe in a press conference by referencing Nancy Reagan’s séances in the White House. On the news this morning, they noted that Obama called Nancy to apologize and that it was said that the had a “warm conversation.” Why did this make me cry? Because, I realized that Obama may be just the man to unite our country in a way not yet seen, partly because even Republicans can see in his election a poignant symbolism a partial healing of a deep, old wound. Putting all politics for the moment aside, they will greet him warmly, with the rest of us, as our new president. That is so heart-warming.

I am so interested in what the mood is in America right now. It was also said on the news that things seem notably lighter than before. Is that true?