Pictures: US Congress (Public Domain)
'Inevitably on so momentous an occasion, alcohol featured significantly and several people were having a shot every time a state was declared for Sen. Obama.'

Surefish correspondent Matthew Graham, who lives and works in the United States, reflects on this month's presidential election

Election night for me has always been a rather quintessentially English affair: the slow but steady trickle of results after the pubs close, the Dimbleby brothers and a slew of political grandees, Jon Snow and some daft technological representation of what the final outcome might be.

So I was not entirely prepared for the experience of a hotel bar in Quebec with fifty Americans and wall-to-wall CNN featuring holograms, unknown campaign pundits and commercials (for all sorts of enhancement products).

Inevitably on so momentous an occasion, alcohol featured significantly and several people were having a shot every time a state was declared for Sen. Obama.

Predicted

Or rather predicted for him since these results turn out to be the product of some arcane process combining exit polls and the small fraction of actual votes cast that had been officially counted thus far.

Such is the apparent trustworthiness and regard for exit polls here that CNN anointed Sen. Obama the official victor as soon as the West Coast polls closed.

The room exploded and the phone networks went into meltdown as half the country called the other half to tell them the news, just in case they had not been watching television.

Twenty minutes later, Sen. McCain conceded defeat in spite of votes still being counted in California, Oregon, Washington and most other states.

Both candidates’ speeches – Sen. McCain’s concession and Sen. Obama’s victory – garnered repeated applause from my colleagues at the appropriate pauses but Sen. Obama’s final affirmation about what we can do brought a standing ovation with much whooping and cheering.

Such a response was also elicited in my local church on Sunday when the rector reminded us of the result. The danger of such triumphalism is that it engenders too high an expectation of what the President-elect can and will achieve.

Disappointed

Change has been promised but some are interpreting this to mean social revolution and they are likely to be disappointed.

In liberal circles in California, the election euphoria has been tempered by dismay at the rejection of same-sex marriage in the passing of Proposition 8.

Interestingly, 70 per cent of African-Americans and 80 per cent of churchgoers voted in favour of a ban so whilst America might be a place where all things are possible, a lot of Americans are still unwilling to countenance all things.

A number of legal challenges to the result are already in the offing so this situation may yet change.

There is no doubt that this election has been truly remarkable but too many of those moments in history that become cultural reference points – the assassination of John F. Kennedy or the death of Princess Diana, for example - seem to mark the end of an era.

The ability to recall exactly where you were and what you were doing at that particular instant is worn as a commemorative medal to simpler and less troubled times.

New era

However, when my proverbial grandchildren will ask me if I can recall the night that America elected its first black President, I shall bring out my campaign medal to show them that I made it through the dark and troubled years of the Bush administration into a new era of hope and change.