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Night Of Cheers (Obama!) And Booze ($11 Martinis?!)

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By DANIEL RUTH

druth@tampatrib.com

Published: November 6, 2008

"I've been so, so shpilkes," fretted an anxiety-ridden Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena, who in the midst of a huge crowd of equally fretting Barack Obama supporters seemed to capture the mood in Yiddish.

What would we call this? A rainbow coalition of the hand-wringing?

Throughout the evening at the Marriott Waterside Hotel, the Obama faithful had been steadily gathering to drink in this moment in history. Perhaps in an homage to the Obama campaign, the Marriott had decided to do its part to help redistribute the wealth by charging $11 for a martini.

To be sure, these folks had good reason to be nervous.

First, this was Florida, with its history of holding elections that are the envy of the Salem witch hunts. And second, this was Hillsborough County, where its supervisor of elections, Buddy Johnson, was in the process of proving again he must have trained under that master of accountability, Papa Doc Duvalier, when it comes to counting ballots.

A 200-Year Trek

Sure, many of Tampa's political intelligentsia, along with the shpilking Saul-Sena, were mingling about the Marriott.

But Catherine Cecil was also in the room. Cecil works for a nongovernmental organization, Youth Star, which among many other things is involved in removing land mines, and had traveled from Cambodia to volunteer for the Obama campaign.

"I've been politically active and I didn't want to miss this," she said.

It was tempting to ask what was more daunting - land mine removal or the Marriott's liquor prices - but the mood passed.

In a few more moments the country would officially elect its first black president at the end of a campaign more than 200 years in the making, winding through Selma and Birmingham and Watts and Hough and all the other stations of the cross of the American civil rights movement.

Believe, David

"I wish my mom was here to see this," sighed banker David Christian, as he watched the national returns. "She wouldn't have believed it."

And just then, Florida - stumblebum Florida, the state that has historically been little more than a Wal-Mart gift card for the Bush family - was declared in favor of Obama.

"My Lord!" Christian said quietly, almost unbelieving. Believe, David, believe.

It wasn't all that long ago that a black tourist in this community was beaten and set on fire by a couple of redneck oafs.

Tuesday night, Barack Obama carried Hillsborough County, the same county where a bunch of narrow-minded simpletons fly a massive Confederate flag near I-4. That's hardly atonement. But it is a giant step across the breach of bigotry. One step down, more to come.

Jamal Simmons, an Obama operative, stepped away from the raucous celebration to watch the returns in a small area just off the ballroom.

Glass of champagne in hand, the normally loquacious Simmons was reflective.

"I can't describe it," Simmons said, glancing toward the television. "This is the most wonderful day of my life. It's why I got into politics."

It seemed like a good time to toast Simmons' happiness, but at $11 a pop, a hearty handshake would have to do.

Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.

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