parthenia: (Default)
At Home I'm A Tourist ([personal profile] parthenia) wrote2008-11-04 01:12 pm
Entry tags:

well, the US election of course

I still have queasy memories of the 1992 UK elections, having run a couple of focus groups in an overheated room, and then retiring with my deeply Labour colleague to the hotel bar in Birmingham to watch the vote come in. The bar was full of big men in kipper ties who kept punching the air every time the Tories won. B. was somewhere in America, being sick in a toilet (food poisoning not elections, but somehow emblematic). I wasn't very political at the time, but even I knew it was a bad moment.

I will have my fingers and toes and everything else crossed for the US vote today. And y'know, through all your LJ posts I feel I understand some of what's going in the US election far more deeply than I otherwise would.

Today's Guardian newspaper front page has a photograph of two black girls at an Obama rally, one with tears streaming down her face, both faces shining with hope and anxiety.

...

ETA:

I've turned into a total election wonk in the last few days. Later I will buy some kettle chips, salsa and beer. It may be a late night.

Replying to [livejournal.com profile] rhythmaning below, I think, although it's not my election, this particular moment in politics is so important to all of us, and I want to share it. I remember how the Berlin Wall came down in 1989; how I went to see Nelson Mandela at the freedom concert when he was released from jail, just to be there. Change happens. Sometimes we're privileged to witness it.

Over to you guys, to finish the job.

[identity profile] rhythmaning.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 01:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I remember 1992 well: there was so much triumphalism (wasn't that the year of Kinnock's Sheffield rock'n'roll debacle?) that I was actually convinced that Major would get back in - so convinced I was telling everyone. I just wish I had bet on my hunch!

I think the press over here have been similarly triumphal - before the event.

And it isn't even our election!

I think it may just be that my papers of choice - the Independent and the Grauniad - are left-leaning, and hoping for an Obama victory.

I can't say that I'll be staying up for the results, though.

[identity profile] parthenia14.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I had to turn off the TV news yesterday because they were so bloody confident that they knew how it would all end up. I don't believe in jumping to conclusions and I'd rather stick with it in real time and see how it all plays out...possibly I might have to do it on the radio or interwebs.

Oh, I'll definitely stay up. Whatever happens afterwards, it's a historic moment (hell, it's already a historic moment).

[identity profile] ruric.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I've got stuff to do at home tonight so will be pulling a late one anyway - but I suspect I'll be compulsively hitting refresh on the PC or might even go as far as plugging in the TV.

I see the beeb are doing a dedicated night from 11:20 on BBC1. I might just be spending the night with David Dimbleby.

[identity profile] parthenia14.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I couldn't stand the telly last night, but it'll be better when they're reporting something real. I may spend the night with John Humphreys on Radio 4. ^^

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 02:53 pm (UTC)(link)
I remember Thatcher's second victory - being in Rouken Glen park with friends and just feeling sick to my stomach. I have a bad, bad feeling about tonight, and I just hope I'm wrong.

[identity profile] parthenia14.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 03:02 pm (UTC)(link)
I feel about as sick as I did in 1997, quite honestly, and I get more worried the more chipper the media get.

I hope you're wrong, too.

[identity profile] deililly.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
You aren't alone on that one. Bad feelings and all. I hope we are worrying unnecessarily!

[identity profile] unblinkered.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 02:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow....the Wall came down in 1987, too? I just remember the 1989 one... ;)

[identity profile] parthenia14.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Yeah, there was a much smaller wall. The Benelyn wall. Obviously. Well, I was only 4 at the time. Obviously.

*kicks self for not checking*

*edits*

[identity profile] unblinkered.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Of course....the practice wall! I'd forgotten all about that. :P

To be fair, it's a date that's kinda stuck with me. Being German and all...

I was staying at my best friend's house and was woken up in the wee hours by her dad, who informed me that the wall had come down and then deposited me in front of the telly with a cup of tea. My mum came to collect me probably around noon and we were still in front of the TV, in our pyjamas and wrapped up in a duvet, agog. I was 14...old enough to understand how monumental this was. My friend's dad was a history teacher, so he knew too.

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 03:05 pm (UTC)(link)
*mutters* No respect for your elders...

[identity profile] temaris.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
yeah, I'm watching CNN which is being scrupulously careful not to bounce either way, and I do worry.

[identity profile] parthenia14.livejournal.com 2008-11-04 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm already addicted to the BBC's Live Text update (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7700298.stm) page

[identity profile] wivern.livejournal.com 2008-11-05 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
I have similar memories of one of our election, though ihave bloked out exactly what year it was. *g*

I am amazed at how fascinating I am finding this US election.