Obama supporters in Chicago

Nearly as peacefully as a leaf sinks to the ground, more than 100,000 people filed out of Grant Park in downtown Chicago last night.

Some held their joy in rapt silence, seemingly dazed as they funneled through throngs along Michigan Avenue.  Others paused on their journey home, to let go their tongues and chant one more time: “Yes we can!”  And others held hands, at moments breaking their homeward gait to say “Barack” … and then “Obama,” in a still-building awe, overcome by jubilation and disbelief.

The streets were saturated with hope when Barack Obama’s supporters walked home after his acceptance speech in Chicago’s Grant Park to become the next president of the United States.

The leaf – a black man with a Kenyan father and a white, American mother who was raised by his grandma – had landed in the seat of the United States presidency. And it was as if no one could believe the brilliance of its color. 

Rebirth was in the air, and it was heady stuff.

“I came to experience people really believing that it’s possible,” said Dwayne Bryant, a 38-year-old Obama supporter who was in the crowd at Grant Park last night.  “I want the kids, the adults, to really believe that it’s possible.”

When Obama’s supporters were first admitted to the park, they hit the green grass in a sprint, pumping their legs to find a spot near the stage bedecked in flags and bunting.

And when they left, they walked in stunned joy down the middle of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, the famous stretch which had been cleared of cars to allow for their passage.

Chicago’s skyline towered overhead, every building in its usual place, but it was as if the world had stopped.  And, as people walked, they marked a new beginning, in a world where a black man can become the president of the United States and personal responsibility has been resurrected as a Democratic mantra.

In his acceptance speech at the park, as he did numerous times during his campaign, Obama tied his ascendance and purpose to the energy and hope of his supporters.  And he preached for a movement of change.   

“This victory alone is not the change we seek,” he said. “It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.  It can’t happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. 

“So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility where each resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.”

Chants of “Yes we can!” greeted every pause in his speaking.  And arms were raised skyward throughout the crowd, some to wave American flags, and others held aloft in an outburst of fervor, palms open to hold the fullness of the moment.

Obama’s victory speech gave voice to a mood of optimism and unity that had been palpable throughout the crowd all evening. 

As election results were broadcast on a giant screen before his throngs of supporters, swells of praise met the good news.  And, between the broadcasts, a surprising hush held sway, as the crowd of thousands seemed to hold its breath as one, pressed so tightly in togetherness that every movement required a peaceful cooperation of the many. 

Come to congregate for a new America, the crowd, it seemed, had embodied the message of harmony – and closure on the cultural battles of the ‘60s and ‘70s – that Obama had made a central theme in his campaign from the beginning. 

“It’s his ability to reach across the line,” said Pamela Gates, a black 50-year-old, as she stood near a circle of twenty-somethings who sat smoking cigarettes in the grass.  “He’s not just the black candidate, or the Democratic candidate.  He’s the candidate for everyone.”

And, at least for one night, it seemed to be true, as everyone – young, old, black, white, American and foreign – left the park to walk with reverence and new hope in the city’s changed streets.  An army of ordinary people vindicated, finding that fall and democracy can truly hold the promise of transformation.