Election night 2008, abroad

So I think I have had a very interesting perspective on the election of the past year. Starting last fall with the Iowa caucuses working for Iowa PIRG to get out the student vote, then working with CBS and learning about broadcast news and international coverage. Being abroad during the election only added to my political knowledge, I now have more of an understanding of the United States and how the world views us.  

Whether you are happy with the results or not this is where we are now, so here are some more of my observations, now that all is said and done. Also this is a link to more photos from the night. 

Last fall, I was the student everyone, including my friends avoided. I stood in the Student Center at Drake asking “have you registered to vote?” Even in the dorm, I would hunt down those not registered and ask where they were registered and if they were voting in the primary at home or if they were caucusing in Iowa. Depending on their answer I would hand them a voter registration sheet and make them fill it our in front of me or just simply remind them to get an absentee ballot from home.

Then I worked for CBS for the caucus and saw how the world, a whole year away from the election, focused in on Iowa to obtain even a hint of how the vote would go. Despite the fact I met and spoke with reporters from all over the world, I had no idea the world impact of the election.

So this fall when I decided to study abroad, my friends were all curious, “how can you leave now when you care so much about the election?” And what I discovered is I could still be apart of the politics in the United States, even an ocean away.

Every country I have visited, Spain, Germany and where I live in Italy I find Obama supporters. Walking around the streets of Munich Obama supporters stopped me to ask if I was registered to vote. In Spain the hostel I stayed at had Obama signs up. And in Florence I was asked to join the Democrats abroad. I couldn’t believe how the rest of the world took to our politics and to him. Even my professors when we discussed it would always say “We like Obama very much here.”

After sending in a non-climactic absentee ballot I thought Election night may be a little dull here. But I was so wrong. Hundreds of Americans and Italians alike joined at a center just outside of Florence, where The Tuscan American Association planned a fantastic party, including a free shuttle from the bus stop to get there. Equipped with McDonalds cheeseburgers and nuggets, risotto, biscotti, soda and wine, the association was ready for the influx of American students. Also, there was live music—first American gospel style later good old country music (it was really as if I were back in Iowa)—videos for both candidates played, raffles, a mock election and most importantly three projector screens with live coverage that lasted until 4 a.m. The night was perfect, it allowed me to be apart of something I am so passionate about even though I was so far away.

Now, after the longest, most expensive campaign in our history the United States has selected a new direction. We believed in the idea of hope and the idea of change; now we need to hope Obama can be the change we need and live up to the expectations he set in the first town hall meeting he spoke at in Des Moines, where he told me “together we can make a change.”