This is not about business but, since it is a historic occasion, I will make an exception.

I watched Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential campaign tonight with friends in Fort Greene, a mixed race, gentrified district of Brooklyn. Then I walked back home after midnight.

I expected the atmosphere to be festive but it was more than that. There were crowds of people thronging the streets, whooping, singing and dancing. On one street corner, a bunch of drummers were beating out a rhythm and people were chanting “Ob-am-a” and “Yes, we can” to the beat.

It was made more colourful by a few police cars which turned on their sirens and flashing lights in an effort to clear the way, which only provoked more dancing and chanting.

People were hanging out of cars cheering and exchanging slaps of the hand with passers-by as they drove by. On another street corner, several people were amiably letting off firecrackers.

The whole thing felt like an explosion of pent-up emotion, like a city that had just been liberated. New York is, of course, a solidly Democratic city in a state that has Hillary Clinton as a senator.

It was an extraordinary sight.

November 5, 2008 7:20am in Cities | Comment