The Election in Japan

When the polls first closed in the US, it was 9AM here. I had an 11AM class, but after noon I was free to keep an eye on everything.

The campus had a room setup especially for the election coverage, having CNN available on all day in a room that could hold about 150 people. Most of the day the number hovered around 30, peaking at the Obama speech at around 60-70.

The call on CNN was made at 1PM; though it was obvious to us that it was guaranteed, we all still needed the visual to be sure. There was a good amount of cheering going on, and many people (myself included) at least shedding tears, if not more.

For me, though, my main thought was about in the summer of '07, I can't remember who I was talking to, but my honest opinion at that time was that I would be lucky to ever see a non-white president. That thought still hasn't sunk in yet, as I'm sure it hasn't to many people around the country.


EDIT: I did send some pictures I took in to CNN, and it's posted here: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-138714
Apparently, they're going to send some stuff back home as appreciation for sending in stuff for them to use :)

The other thing, though, was that I saw and watched friends who I've made around here crying because McCain lost. I could use some of the paragraphs above to describe them in the same way, and the only difference would be the tone.

It still seems odd saying this, but this is the first major election I've not been in Madison for. One professor I talk to frequently called Madison something along the lines of a "socialist stronghold", and even I talk about it to others as the San Francisco of the midwest. Eau Claire seems like it's close to a 50/50 split, and though here it seems easily 80/20 towards Democrats, that a large difference to a high school where you could come close to counting the number of Republicans on a pair of hands.