As I noted in my previous post, I had been invited to two election night events: an official American Embassy party at La Casa de America, a non-profit focusing on promoting the culture of the Americas in Spain and a Democrats Abroad Party across the street at El Circulo de Bella Artes, a major arts organization and museum. Both events proved to be swanky affairs for a historic night.
The first party, which was hosted by the American Ambassador, Eduardo Aguirre, was an invitation only event for friends of the embassy: embassy employees, government officials, foreign dignitaries, local politicians, the media, and a few wayward Fulbrighters. (Oddly, the researchers needed to pick up the invitations from the Fulbright office while the teaching assistants’ names were forwarded to the organization’s VIP list). Each Fulbrighter was permitted to bring a guest, so I decided to take one of my roommates, Jeanne, an enthusiastic French Obama supporter, to the party.
The party site was located right at one of the main intersections of Madrid’s city center, Paseo del Prado y Calle Alcala, with an entrance on one of the side streets that led to the back of the building; several of the Fulbrighters decided to make this area the meeting point for the group attending the event. After entering a security check-point, we entered a dimmed atrium where event staffers where handing out gift bags with campaign buttons from both political parties, a free drink/meal ticket, masks of each of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, and a pin with an interlocked set of American and Spanish flags.
We eventually walked through the atrium to the building’s auditorium, which was replete with guests and representatives from the city and country’s media outlets. As we walked through the room, I noticed that most of the well-heeled guests were standing around tables chatting about various topics as cameramen and women, photographers, reporters, and sound technicians interviewed partygoers about the night’s events.
More noticeably, group after group of party-goers were taking photos of their friends with the masks; Sarah Palin masks proved to be a popular pick with the men at the party.
The party also featured a presidential trivia contest between pairs of individuals who volunteered to participate in the game. The prize? A warm, patriotic six pack of Bud Light. Naturally, the Fulbrighters participated in two rounds of the game to win free beers for the group. What else would we drink on a historic night for America?
The presence of free alcohol did not help our group’s standing among the American dignitaries at the event. At the tail end of the final trivia challenge, one of the Fulbrighters suggested that the group pose for a photo in front of the ‘La Embajada de Los Estados Unidos de America’ backdrop at the front of the auditorium. As we posed for a few photos, a cameraman ran up to the stage, which prompted us to brazenly declare our support for Barack Obama to a crowd that was preparing to listen to the American Ambassador’s remark for the evening.
Yes, we cut off the American Ambassador at the very start of his speech. After clearing his throat, the Ambassador sternly said that the Fulbrighters “youthful enthusiasm did not reveal their enthusiasm for any particular candidate.” We immediately grew silent and haphazardly left the stage for the coatroom to leave the party with our egos somewhat intact.
Eduargo Aguirre, the current American Ambassador to Spain
The group subsequently moved over to the Democrat’s Abroad party at 1:30 to catch the results live on CNN. While I imagined the party would be a small gathering of Democrats in a bar, the organization put on a significantly more grandiose event. Hundred of Democrat supporters were floating in and out of each of the museum’s four floors as cameras flashed a live CNN feed on large projection screens hoisted above every room.
As we set up our home base on the top floor of the building, various members of our group were making runs for 14 Euro bottles of Champagne for the result announcements. As Wolfe Blitzer announced each major victory for the Obama Campaign: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, and Virginia, we – and the rest of the party – began consuming bottle after bottle of champagne, growing giddier by the moment.
At this point, Obama had 230 votes after conquering McCain in Virginia; the reality was setting in among the party goers that the race would be over when the polls closed on the West Coast at 4 AM. The bartenders were aware of this fact: all of the Champagne was sold out as people were running back to the video room with the remaining bottles for the next exit poll announcements.
As the groups shared plastic flutes and drinks, the entire crowd’s gaze remained fixed on the screen began to direct itself completely on the screen at 3:55. As CNN’s poll closing ticker for the nation’s west coast states, the crowd began to roar 5… 4… 3… 2… 1, with an intensity that no new year’s party could ever match. The next moment Blitzer announced Obama’s victory in the 2008 election. Then one loud cheer followed by another one and another one…
It is difficult for me to completely describe the emotions and reactions of the party goers in that room at that particular time; people cried, hugged, laughed, cheered, toasted to victory. McCain’s speech was greeted with applause. Obama’s speech, while cut off for three previous minutes, was received with intense joy from everyone in the room. I spent the entire hour crying and hugging my friends, who stood in awe in front of the screen.
In the midst of it all, I called my parents, who were eating dinner in the living room as they prepared for a long night in front of the television. I could barely hear their joyful reactions to Obama’s victory as I screamed out “el gano” over and over again. Given that I was using a prepaid phone, I could not talk to them for more than a minute. But I appreciated the opportunity to hear my family’s excitement while kneeling on the ground of a room strewn with champagne corks and dancing feet.
The party went strong until 6 AM, when the hosts cut off the feed and closed the bar, prompting a large number of tired and happy Obama supporters to walk outside to the empty streets of Madrid.
After the party, we sang a drunken, off key rendition of the Star Spangled Banner while walking to Sol to find a bar or coffee shop serving hot chocolate and churros. Our group managed to find one that was open 24 hours; the diners, mainly older Spanish men, gave us a puzzled look before noticing our Obama buttons and nodding in silent agreement. Our meal was quick, as some of the Fulbrighters needed to show up to their teaching positions in two hours. So we left and parted ways as the sun was beginning to break through a grey and chilly fall morning.
I returned home at 8 AM to find one of my French roommates awake; she was preparing to return to France to visit her ailing grandfather. She hugged me the moment she saw me and told me that her grandmother, who was a staunch Obama supporter, called her at 4 am to tell her the good news while crying with joy. Clearly you know you witnessed global history when your roommate’s grandmother is following an American election in the middle of the night. That reality set the final elegiac tone for the night as I prepared to go to sleep after spending nearly 10 hours celebrating history with my friends.
As I recall this night, I wish Canon had repaired my camera in time for the election. (Cruelly, Canon shipped out my camera to my piso today, a week after the election) Perhaps the effort to videotape the event would have been a wonderful keepsake for future events when I wanted to show friends and family the festivities from November 4, 2008. Even so, I feel that no amount of photography or videos could capture the energy and emotion of that night; I am sure the photographers at Grant Park felt the same way.
More importantly, no visual record of the night could relay the manner in which I felt connected to my country and the world. Perhaps I would have been able to demonstrate how ex pats and foreigners were excited to see a major milestone in the development of the American democratic project or captured the moment when I shared my joy with my family in Pasadena. Given the power of a collective decision to change the history of a nation and engage the hopes and dreams of its citizens and friends abroad, however, the night’s events extended beyond my capacity to completely capture that moment in time.
Having finished my elaborate justification for my failure to take my own photographs at an amazing party, I can say that November 4th, 2008 will remain as one of the greatest moments in my life, and, more importantly, a momentous occasion in the history of the United States.
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