As I was driving to Carthage yesterday morning and listening to WGN, Kathy and Judy were taking calls from people who were explaining how they were going to be spending Election Night. And after hearing about one party after another, I decided that the hour needed to be livened up with something outside the box- so I called up and went on the air to say that I was spending Election Night at the opera. It just happened to work out that way with our season tickets – and what at first seemed like an unfortunate thing (it meant I couldn’t help out with WGTD’s election coverage, which made me sad- plus I would have enjoyed being camped out in front of the TV like the rest of America) turned out instead to be a delightful coincidence. It meant being in the heart of one big happy celebration, even if Marshall and I were more like excited observers than ecstatic participants. I’m not meaning to imply how either of us did or did not vote, but just that we weren’t in Chicago to go to the party- but it was mighty fun and mighty nice to taste the euphoria for ourselves.
One striking thing about the evening was how all intermission conversation at the opera house, as far as I could tell, was focused completely on the election and the results which were slowly becoming known. As you walked through the hallways, all you heard was “it looks like Oklahoma is going for Obama” or “CNN seems to be holding back on their projections.” Not a single word about Eric Cutler’s high notes or how The Pearl Fishers differs from Carmen. Frankly, most of the time the hallway conversations tend to be more about the matters of real life than what is transpiring on the Lyric stage. . . although for died in the wool opera fans like Marshall and me, it would never dawn on us to talk about anything except opera during intermission, to say nothing of the entire drive home. But even we found ourselves unable to resist the lure of election results and how history was being made.
I have to tell you about a very interesting moment which occurred backstage as Marshall and I greeted our good friend Laura Deming, who plays cello in the Lyric orchestra. Laura had a huge Obama button on her coat (and she mentioned that she didn’t know of a single member of the orchestra who weren’t Obama supporters) and as we talked, a complete stranger walked up to Laura – having just heard the news that the election had been called for Obama- and this woman said, with arms outstretched, “I don’t even know you, but I love you!” That might sound a bit absurd or bizarre – and maybe on some level it was – but it was an entirely spontaneous and genuine moment and says a lot about what happened Tuesday night and how for many people this was a moment of monumental importance which made all kinds of strangers into friends and allies. . . a moment in which something of transcendent significance dwarfed everything else.
One thing further- – – something I almost mentioned on today’s Morning Show with three of my faculty colleagues- – – but it would mean admitting that I sometimes watch “The View,” which would probably have raised some eyebrows: On a program in which Whoopie Goldberg and Joy Behar and Scherry Shepherd spoke movingly about their joy at Obama’s victory, I was most moved by the comments of the resident republican on the show, Elizabeth Hasselbeck. She said – and I think she was being entirely honest – that she was truly moved when she saw images from the huge celebration in Chicago and saw with her own eyes how Obama had brought profound hope and joy to everyone gathered there. I think that anyone of any political stripe needs to appreciate not only the importance of what this election represents as an unprecedented breakthrough for the African American community, but also as an event which seems to have brought potent new energy to a wide segment of our population who truly believe for the first time that there is someone in the White House who truly understands them and cares about them and will do all he can to make better days possible for them – and for all of us.
pictured: a photo I snapped on Michigan Avenue. I took this about 6:10, which was rather early in the proceedings, but you can see how many people were already congregating there. It was thrilling to be there – and also moving to think about what had transpired on these very same city streets 40 years ago during the democratic convention.