Obamarama

I didn't vote. In fact, my whole gamut of emotions during the Presidential Election pretty much, ran from A to B. However, from the day the first African-American president was elected on November 4th, 2008 to the night of January 19th, 2009 (the night before Inauguration Day) I was, in fact, skipping and prancing around like a magical pixie horse. Yes. It was a lovely Monday and I waited for beautiful Tuesday. I didn't sleep that night and at 4:30am I was already layering myself, preparing to brave the cold to catch a glimpse of our new president Barack Hussein Obama, or at the very least stand close enough to see every pixel on one of the jumbotrons that would eventually make-up his face. Either way, I was going to burst, with excitement, like a cheap piñata.

The moment I stepped out of the L'Enfant Plaza Metro train in Washington D.C, with my brother in law, Taimoor and his wife, Madiha (two avid supporters and highly political conscious people in the family), we got squished first and then pushed forward. The crowd was moving us up and out of the station, quite fast, into the blustery winter air. And what a blustery winter air it was because even though I'll always remember I stood on a wide strip of grass with two million other people to watch one man pass the reins of leadership to another and that too to the first African-American, I will also always remember the thirteen hours I spent in that blustery winter air under ten layers of clothing that, needless to say, provided no insulation.

We stepped out of the metro and the first thing I felt as I walked up the escalators and out onto the busy sidewalk was that I knew I bonded with the atmosphere immediately. OK, except, when, the tang of hot dogs and fries at every corner stand hit me at 6AM - a kind of belching feeling and an anaphylactic cough took over - but, otherwise, yes, immediately. It became a little more real with every step toward the National Mall and a little less scary surrounded by a mass of long shadows that walked with me and then Madiha described it just about right .… "We look like zombies marching in one direction". When we reached the Mall it seemed that one million people had already arrived ahead of us. And, for a moment, I stood still, I tried to lift my camera but brought it down and then up again and then down to capture that specific moment in time but couldn't because so many people together, flickered and became pixilated like when you stood too close to one of the jumbotrons. But, basically, it was because I had gone into impermanent shock.

The tone set for that day was powerful, progressive, yet comforting. We were about to inaugurate a new president. And now, the people were happy because they had been so unhappy with the Bush administration for so long. As I stood there, snapping away every moment, I thought, would later bring back the same feelings of awe and while my fingers slowly solidified inside my gloves, I wondered. Obama has a long, hard road ahead of him, and so do we. How long before the nay-sayers decry all that has not been done? How long before the pundits from both sides cry foul saying he's not doing enough, or he's doing too much? Can Obama walk on water? No…nor should we expect him to. But, that was the point when I knew; I saw, even through my lens that, WOW, people were thinking he can walk on water, especially, the African-American people. But really, could you blame them? Though, he's only one man and as I stared and took pictures of expressions I had never really seen before….everyone seemed like they were in a dream but, also, that they knew this was happening for real. I just hoped, for all of us, that the honeymoon would last ... at least long enough to let him prove himself.

The whole exhaustion of the experience was coupled with the joy of arriving fresh at 7am to the frostbite that took over by 8pm and was very well worth the time I spent huddled near the joyful, tearful, and hopeful American people as Obama took his oath. We were there by the millions to support him, to encourage him and it was unbelievable how people had staked out prime real estate to witness this enlightened, intelligent, strongly principled man taking office. A man, who hopefully, is ready to lead us out of the quagmire, the Bush administration had led us into. For me, it was never about seeing our new president up close, never about shaking his hand or watching his lips move to a promise, in the flesh, and not on a 30 foot jumbotron. It was about the conscious decision to stand with the people that put him on the steps of the Capitol that day where he raised his right hand as the 44th, first African-American President of not a black or a white America but of the United States of America … and, then, it didn't matter that I didn't vote because for the very first time in eight years that I have lived in this country, I was proud to be a part of the people of America.