President Obama

New Zealand is very pleased with your decision, dear readers! I didn't want to scare anyone, but I was pretty sure I'd need some type of political asylum if you had elected McCain. I mapped a route to the embassy just in case. The Kiwis would have run me and my weapons of mass destruction right out of town! Who would dare make such sweeping generalizations about a country and its people... ;)

My Kiwi co-workers played it cool until about 1:30pm today. At that point, only Kentucky and Vermont had been announced. They asked, "Maureen, what time is it in America?" For the rest of the afternoon, the only thing people talked about was the election. Everyone was checking different websites and comparing notes. They asked again, "Maureen, what time is it in America?" Well, if it was 7:30pm when you asked an hour ago, it is now 8:30pm. By the close of business, Obama had been announced as the winner.

Ever since the Phillies won the World Series, my young Kiwi male baseball fan has developed a sudden interest in American politics. After work, we went to a bar that had been showing CNN coverage of the election since 9am. It was packed to the gills with loud, drunk Americans (and Kiwis). The first thing I heard when I walked in was: "Shots for Barack!" The place fell completely silent when Obama came on to give his victory speech. Then everyone went wild when Obama said "And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores..." It was very cool! The world really was watching. I will always remember that I was in an Irish pub in New Zealand for this moment of American history. Then I had Chinese food for dinner. What a melting pot!