In the grand scheme of things, I suppose, Obama's victory is still the biggest surprise.  But I went into last night expecting it.  What I wasn't expecting is that people would spontaneously come together and -- no other word for it -- party down.  The street celebrations last night were, honestly, like nothing I've ever seen in this country.

 I watched Obama's acceptance speech in downtown Oakland, at a BBQ joint that was literally packed with people, mostly African-Americans, of every imaginable age. I'm at a loss to describe the feeling of redemption and joy in the room when CNN called the election, and the overpowering emotion of the acceptance speech.  let me just say that Obama's speeches were meant to be heard with a roomful of viewers doing call and response!

  Afterward, the party seemed to crescendo: people didn't realize how happy they were going to be, and it just fed off itself.  The streets were alive with people celebrating, dancing, hugging, waving, whistling, and -- this is the crazy part -- it was like we were all friends.  You just said the magic word "Obama!" and total strangers would light up, return your salute, welcome you into their mini-celebrations. 

  That is not the usual vibe one gets in downtown Oakland.

  Later, in Berkeley, where the cops usually keep a tight rein on the students, the streets were so packed with people that cars couldn't pass for blocks.  The cops, amazingly, hung back, calm, while the kids shouted, crowd-surfed, waved American flags. Had this been a football game, there would have been drunkenness, rowdiness, and idiocy.  By contrast, this was a wild celebration, but one that was responsible and respectful.  People were proud of who we are, and what we'd just done.  I kept thinking, "these kids just voted for the first time!"

    Spontaneous celebrations all around the country: that is the biggest surprise.  It should remind us of something: elections are not just about candidates, they are about electorates.  What I am describing is sociological, but ultimately it's as important as anything we usually think of as political.  Our last collective moment was 9/11; the dominant emotions were fear, anger, and grief.  Moment wasted.  Last night, we got another chance.

  For years I've harbored a pet theory of the Latin Americanization of US Politics: stealing elections (with the help of your brother the Governor), crony capitalism, appointing incompetent loyalists, sabre rattling (a Chilean invention!), massive foreign debt and currency devaluation, etc.  The wrench in my theory was that Latin America was changing: elections got cleaner, the left became a disciplined, viable electoral force, old patterns of clientelism and corruption broke down.  The bellweathers were the election of Vincente Fox in Mexico, in 2000, and Lula in Brazil, in 2002.  I witnessed both those elections, and what struck me -- besides the fact that they vote on the weekend, what a concept! -- was that when the results were announced, the people erupted in celebration.  Cars honked, drums beat, fireworks fired, plazas overflowed with the overjoyed.  It had the spontoneity and bonhomie of Carnaval and the sense of triumph of a World Cup victory party, and then something else too that I'd never seen before.  These were not partisan celebrations; people were not happy simply because their horse won.  Something deeper had happened.  "Thank you Lula," wrote a Brazilian editorialist, summing up a people's decades of cynicism about Brazil's less than uplifting return to democracy, "For giving us back Hope".   I remember thinking that it was simply unimagineable that Americans would ever celebrate any president's election that way.

  Yesterday I was proved wrong. 

    (Or right: now the Latin Americanization of American politics comes full circle!)

    My wife, a native of Rio de Janeiro, put it best.  After living in the US for 2 years, constantly disappointed by our parties, parades, street fairs, and every other American attempt at collective "fun" (which, she's right, are less fun than 5 minutes of Carnaval), she responded to the crowds last night "Tonight I understood for the first time that Americans do have a soul.  They have just been sad for 8 years."

   Try 30.