The White House on Election Night

By TOMÁS DINGES, Correspondent

All Tuesday Nov. 4, the television shots of the U.S. capitol were poor. Mist and drizzle obscured the ideal backdrop for what was seen by many as a defining presidential election in American history.

But at a little past 11 p.m. EST it didn’t matter what the city looked like. Barack Obama had been declared the president-elect of the United States. The streets of Georgetown began to flow with ecstatic young supporters. The neighborhood once derided by John McCain as the too frequent host of elite cocktail parties was now a conduit for a different sort of energy. Trailed by honking taxicabs, some weighted with passengers whose limbs flailed out the windows, and their predominately immigrant and black drivers, young people from Georgetown University, dressed in sweatpants and tight jeans, flip-flops and stilettos, marched on M St. chanting, “Yes we did, yes we did!”

Revolution was in the streets. These kids, many just 18 years old, may have thought that they were the ones who created it. Between 10 and 14 years old when George W. Bush was first elected, and gradually alienated by his reaction to 9/11 and his handling of the Iraq War, many had been passionately and personally involved with the election.

Inside a television studio on M Street, a twenty-four-year-old hockey player turned teleprompter operator checked CNN’s electoral map as he guided the moderator for ARD, Germany’s most-watched news network, through his almost 100 segments of election night coverage. Virginia’s numbers were against Obama and he was angry. “I worked so hard there,” he said. His updated vote counts varied by hundreds of votes. The channel’s political commentators began to ask him for input.

Outside, kids continued to flow by, jubilant. Tall, short, athletic, overweight, statuesque, humble, they walked, and then they ran. Some had no idea where they were going. They were just following the crowd. Others knew. M Street spills into Pennsylvania Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue leads to the White House.

Along the way, 51st State Tavern blared MSNBC as a clean-shaven young man wearing a navy blue suit walked out.

A Frenchman from Paris walked in. He asked if you had to specify what beer you wanted and whether you tip the bartender. He had arrived the Friday before to work in TV production. He got two lagers and repeated how lucky his timing was. He was 200 pages into Obama’s book, “Dreams From My Father.”

The U.S., he said, is capable of electing a black man precisely because of our history of immigration and racism. France isn’t ready yet. The immigration in France is just beginning, he said, and most French have not spent any time with a Muslim or an Arab.

“We are the first generation that grew up with Arabs,” said the thirty-year-old. “I think that change will come. Maybe not soon, but it will come,” he said as he slowly drank his beer.

In front of the International Monetary Fund, the subject of furious protests by disenfranchised young people in 2000, a private security guard gave high-fives to passersby.

Waves of students seemed to roll back through the groups going to the White House, hugging, high-fiving and chanting.

A stern-faced cop and his companion in front of the old executive building were the first indication of a limited police presence.

The crowd began to come together and we dove into the teeming masses on the glistening street in front of the glowing White House. Thousands of people had accumulated, many young. Later, the crowd became more diverse in age and race.

“Grace Kohn said you can suck my dick Bush,” said Kohn, a student. Outgoing President George W. Bush had celebrated his wife’s birthday with coconut cake and a gift of earrings that night inside the White House.

Alex Rice, an 18-year-old from George Washington University took a different tack. “I love Obama and support this country,” he said. His disillusionment with Bush came when he was 13, he said, when the United States went to war with Iraq. “Finally we have a president that represents us.” There were chants of “U-S-A.”

The Frenchman saw his first American flag draped across the bare back of a bicycle rider. It was one of a few there. He was surprised. The French flag was a common site during group events, but, after years of representing national pride, it became a symbol of racist nationalism with the campaign by Jean Marie LePen. It became a regular symbol of hyper-nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment when waved at football games. But leading up to the election of Sarkozy, that nationalism began to change to suit the times. The people reclaimed it, ironically by the political posturing of Sarkozy.

It was the political posturing of the Republican party that in the end drove Dana Mozie, “the first hip-hop producer for a sitting president,” to the Obama party that night at The Park on Fourteenth, and then, alone, to the White House.

A hip-hop producer in the early 90s for the group Salt-n-Pepa, he helped bring hip-hop to mainstream America. Starting in 2000, he worked inside the White House under Bush on so-called outreach efforts to the black community. He emerged from those experiences, as did other “guys like me who were surrogates,” disillusioned.

“Republicans never would go to the ghetto,” he said, and as a result would never get the black vote. With Obama campaigning in poor black neighborhoods he noted something special in this candidate.

Still it was difficult for this black candidate to get elected. “One drop of black blood and it costs $670 million,” said Mozie, referring to the cost of the Obama campaign.

But now, the Obama candidacy allows for the “race card” to be thrown out, and “allows for a real sense of inclusiveness,” in America, he said.

The rain had stopped for a while now and Mozie, a dapper man around forty, put his umbrella down and looked wide-eyed at the people who continued to flow past.

“I thought it was a moment for black people, but it tapped something in other people too,” he said.

Mozie had been to the 54th and the 55th inaugurations, but, he said emphatically, “this is the original inaugural parade.”

People continued to squeeze through the tightening crowd on Pennsylvania Avenue. “America is back,” someone said. The fancier election night parties began to spill forth their participants near 1 a.m. Many paused in astonishment before entering the raucous crowd.

“Obama didn’t just change the party,” said Mozie, “he changed the paradigm.”

Tomás Dinges can be reached at tdinges@gmail.com.

What it Takes to be a Cosmo Girl

By EUGENE MULERO, Correspondent

Katie Glueck is 18, likes journalism and she’s very cosmopolitan. So much, in fact, that CosmoGIRL! magazine has turned her into its political correspondent. Glueck was hobnobbing with high-profile politicos, Beltway power brokers and Hollywood celebrities during both national conventions. Among her key interviews were a chat with Sen. Hillary Clinton and heart-to-heart with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She loves fashion, yet adds that politics is her calling. She is taking on political science at Northwestern University and hopes to come to Washington, D.C., soon to emulate the careers of other strong-minded and witty ladies, such as Maureen Dowd or Helen Thomas. Taking Back Politics sat down with Glueck at the Rock The Vote party at Bar Fly during the GOP convention.

 

 

TBP: What do you think about the Convention?

KG: I’ve covered both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention, and it’s been interesting to watch the parties cultivating their messages that will define both campaigns through November. Participants at both conventions are energized and seem to really believe in their candidates.

 

TBP: How would you describe your blog and CosmoGIRL! news?

KG: I try to cover the election from an angle that young women would find interesting. I focus on the youth vote and on engaging young women and girls in the political process. In that vein, I’ve interviewed Sen. Clinton and Pelosi, and spent a lot of time talking with young people at the early primaries and caucuses (i.e., Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina), and now at the conventions. We’re non-partisan, so I make sure to talk to young people from all kinds of ideological backgrounds. I’ve got a weekly blog at www.cosmogirl.com/election2008, and I publish a column in the magazine.

 

TBP: Where are you from and tell us how you got involved with CosmoGIRL!

KG: I’m originally from a suburb of Kansas City. I just graduated high school and will be a freshman at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in about two weeks. I’m CosmoGIRL! magazine’s political correspondent, a position I came into by winning a contest. Last fall, the letter from the editor in CosmoGIRL! said that the magazine wanted to send one young woman to cover the major events of the election. They were looking for someone who could synthesize these huge political issues in a way that would be engaging for young readers. I wrote an essay to apply, and last October, found out that I was one of five finalists. I did a 40-minute phone interview, and was fortunate enough to be selected for the job.

 

TBP: Describe the experience of reporting from the conventions.
KG: It’s been amazing! This election is historic on so many levels that are of interest to CosmoGIRL! readers — we’ve seen the first woman get close to clinching the nomination of a major party, the first African-American receive that nomination … unprecedented youth involvement — so covering both conventions and being in the middle of all this excitement has truly been an honor.

 

TBP: What has been your favorite moment during the Republican National Convention?

KG: So far, Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-Conn.) speech. Regardless of my personal political views, I think he’s got a real point on the issue of partisanship. I think that the majority of our country is pretty moderate, and it would be nice to see those in Washington moving past party lines to actually achieve some tangible results for the American people. That’s what we elected them to do.