Grant Park

post from Daily Kos on 04 November 2008 10:39:45 PM. © Daily Kos

Breathtaking.

If there is one word to describe the atmosphere here at Grant Park in Chicago, that’s it.

It’s difficult to put into words exactly what is happening here. It’s hard to describe just why it's happening. But I’m going to try.

The sun had barely set over Chicago before people, decked out in Obama gear and American flag lined up along Grant Park to get into what everyone wished, so desperately wished, would be a victory rally.

You have seen the sea of humanity on your television sets, but here, on the ground, we’re in a paradox of being part of something so much larger than ourselves but experiencing it in such a personal and individual manner.

For four hours we waited in security, sandwiched together, shoulder to shoulder as the cool Lake Michigan breeze kept us refreshed. The crowd was excited, but you could feel a palpable sense of nervousness, a jittery sense of apprehension that exists only when political junkies are deprived of their TV and blog fix. Those with iPhones were glued to them, and little pools of iPhone light could be seen, the pockets of light illuminating the tense faces of the handful of strangers gathered around its feeble light to see something, anything, about how the race was playing out.

When Pennsylvania was called, all we heard at first was a distant rumble from the field where giant screens project CNN’s coverage. The rumble grew, and grew louder as the news pulsated to the back of the crowd, from person to person, through thousands upon thousands of people.

In the back, we cheered before we knew what occurred. But when we heard which state was called, the throngs of progressives who worked so hard for so long for this moment exploded. People cheered, jumped in the air, and hugged the strangers next to them. Chants of O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA swelled up until the entire area was vibrating with the singular chant of change.

The phenomenon repeated itself with Florida. And by the time Ohio was called, there wasn’t a face in the crowd that wasn’t beaming, despite waiting in line for hours on end.

The night is still young. And here on the field, tens of thousands of us wait, like you, for that call that will make all of Chicago erupt in jubilant roar that will be heard coast to coast. Until then, we wait, reveling in the history of the moment.