once you go Barack...

It’s taken me two days to fully recover from
Tuesday night’s celebrations; I can only imagine
what the atmosphere is like back home and in the US.
In Berlin’s city center, hundreds of Democrats
gathered to watch the election at the Babylon theatre.
When that sold out, the rest of us congregated
at a bar down the street and when that closed at 3am,
we rallied to watch the results projected
on a screen outside the theatre.

Our entourage included people from around the globe,
united in our support for Obama, drunk on his success
as the votes rolled in. At 5 am, when his victory had been
announced by even FOX news, we didn’t want to go home
and the day after we couldn’t tear ourselves away
from articles, news coverage and discussions
rehashing this historic achievement.

I have heard lots of mixed feelings about Obama since
being here, they seem to have a love-hate relationship
with him, unsure of what his presidency would mean
for European-American relations. For one, during his
somewhat contentious speech given here in the summer,
he eluded to the fact that he’d expect a higher European
presence in Afghanistan. Nonetheless, the general feeling
here since Tuesday has been one of genuine delight and relief.

The expats we have met feel like they can finally be
proud to be American, a sentiment echoed around the world, I’m sure.

I am not naïve enough to think that change can happen over night, but watching his victory speech brought tears to my eyes and corny as it may seem, hope to my heart. We will see what the next few months and four years bring, but right now let us rejoice in this momentous event.