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Emotional Day Ends in Jubilation for Some, Stoicism for Others
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"How many times in my life is this going to happen?" he asked. "God bless America. This has unified everybody."
At 3 a.m. Smiley Rouse was standing beside her silver VW convertible parked on U Street across from the African American Civil War Museum. The top was down, the music was cranked. The retired D.C. police officer had woken up 24 hours earlier, so wired about voting that she had time to rake the leaves in the front and side yards of her Northeast home before her mother called her to head out to the polls. "Obama 400 yrs" was scrawled in yellow marker on her windows.
After 400 years of slavery, she said, "We are alive to see a black man in a white house."
"I'm so glad to see the city come back after the '60's riots," said her mother, Vernell Garey, 57. "I'm proud of this city."
In the hours between the closing of the polls and the projection of Obama's victory, residents sat vigil in living rooms, bars, church basements and hotel ballrooms.
Clubs and cafes on U Street were jammed with revelers, erupting at each scrap of news about states awarded to Obama. At Busboys & Poets on 14th Street, where a racially mixed crowd stretched down the block, there wasn't a McCain supporter in sight.
"I never thought I would live to see this day," said Audrey Ross, 55, of Clinton.
The entire crowd at Reggiano's in Landover rose and applauded when CNN gave Ohio to Obama. "This is over. The rout is on," said Orland Johnson of Bowie, a member of Obama's national finance committee.
About 100 members of Union Temple Baptist Church in Anacostia began their CNN vigil with a prayer. Many cried and clapped, shouting "Hallelujah!" and "Thank you, Jesus!" when early returns showed Obama ahead. Valerie Morrison, 59, of Landover, Juanita Perry, 74, of Temple Hills and Mary Satcher, 71, of Southeast Washington call themselves the "Obama Mommas."
"This is the day Dr. King talked about," Satcher said. "I'm just glad I'm still here to witness it."
As the polls closed in the District, a small crowd of Democrats gathered in an anteroom at the Madison Hotel, where Denise Wright, an Advisory Neighborhood Commission member and a D.C. schools psychologist, grabbed the TV remote control, making the volume louder over the din. She seemed barely able to breathe watching while McCain showed early strength.
"Now it's okay to exhale a little," she said as Obama pulled ahead. "I will still stay up tonight until they declare him the president of the United States." In the main room, dozens cheered and screamed, "Yes, we can! Yes, we can!" as news of Obama's projected win in Pennsylvania was broadcast.
