Ask East Bremerton resident Cherry Rachal where she’ll be on Jan. 20, 2009. Even if you don’t she’ll likely tell you anyway. Rachal, it just so happens, will be attending the inauguration of the presumed presidential victor, a certain Sen. Barack Obama.
“I bought my ticket a week ago,” she announced during a Democratic victory celebration Tuesday evening at the Silverdale Beach Hotel while victoriously outstretching her arms.
A few moments after seeing Obama as the projected winner on a huge television screen, she was “overjoyed” at seeing the preliminary results of the national election. And she had a lot of company.
According to the results posted at 8:05 p.m. Tuesday on the Kitsap County Auditor’s Web site, Obama carried 56 percent of Kitsap County’s votes, with Republican Sen. John McCain earning 41 percent. In raw numbers, that translated to 44,553 votes for Obama and 33,148 for McCain.
“I’m a praying lady,” Rachal confided. “God answered a prayer tonight not just for me, but for the nation,” she said of Obama’s win.
Retired school teacher Eileen Angiletta of Poulsbo was so overwhelmed by Obama’s declared victory she was rendered almost speechless. As she tried to compose her thoughts, her lips quivered and she wiped tears from her face. She was crying tears of relief.
She spent 25 years in the classroom, the last 12 as a social studies teacher. She found it difficult, she said, fielding her students’ questions as to how George W. Bush – someone they viewed as less intelligent than the average man – could be president.
“I can now say we have a wonderful, bright president,” she said of Obama.
Some in the younger set in attendance at the victory gathering also voiced excitement over the win. In particular, Jo the Student, also known as 15-year-old Klahowya Secondary School student Jo Chapman.
“I’m proud of our country tonight and how we elected a new leader,” Chapman said. He foresees Obama working with the U.S Congress to “create new jobs and fix current programs to make them operate cheaper.”
The youngest Democrat in the room, 18-month-old Quintus McDermott, wasn’t very talkative but expressed his delight with a slobbery, toothy grin. Quentus was accompanied by his father and grandfather, Ervin McDermott III and Ervin McDermott Jr., respectively.
A fourth-generation Democrat, Quintus was happy to speak through his father and grandfather, who opted to speak volumes without saying a word.
Just about the only glitch of the night occurred in the after-hours when a special guest didn’t quite make it home. In this case, the special guest was a life-sized, cardboard cutout of Obama.
The one dimensional cutout was the life of the party, as the Dem faithful lined up 10 deep to get photos taken at his side.
Obama’s disappearance was discovered when the Dems were tearing down the party for the evening, said party organizer Sharon Brown. She figures someone got caught up in the night’s emotion and made off with the president-elect.
All will be forgiven and no questions will be asked if the president-elect is returned to the Silverdale Beach Hotel.
