Saturday, November 8, 2008

Historic Headline

The Washington Post announced Thursday that it would be printing 350,000 new copies of the election edition of their newspaper. Why? Because some people like to collect things and because the election of Barack Obama for President is so historically enormous that folks want something to hold and look at in the future.

People who stayed up late, bleary-eyed from television or online page clicking, woke up needing something to touch. They sought physical proof that it wasn't all just a dream from a computer monitor's blue glow.
I know that I haven't really yet grasped the enormity of the election. Watching the returns on Tuesday night I knew that when the polls closed on the West coast that Obama would be declared the winner. It was obvious by 10:30 that the networks and the cable news outlets were trying to kill time until 11:00. They all waited. The suspense was painful. And then...it's over. I felt numb. Would a copy of a newspaper declaring Obama the President Elect make the event more real for me? Probably not.

1 comment:

KC said...

At first, I didn't believe it. I was staring at the words on the CNN broadcast "projected winner." After 2000 (and living in Florida at the time), I knew that it could all change. They could have made a mistake- damn chads. I didn't want to be robbed of that feeling, so I didn't let myself feel it... at least for a few moments.