The Results Heard Round the World
A historic election like no other, Barack Obama takes the crown
Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: News
By Courtney Lanier
Rotunda Reporter
He's been called the anti-Christ, a socialist and even a terrorist, and now after months of grueling work and pressure, Barack Obama can now call himself the 44th president of the United States.
When the news broke late on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 4, responses and reactions to the election results were felt far and wide. Students took to the streets and to their Facebook statuses with various chants of "Yes we can" to "I'm moving to another country."
On the campus of Longwood University reactions varied from shock to awe to surprise and to disgust as in the case of one Longwood student who believed he heard the song "Highway to Hell" playing in the background.
However, other Longwood students were a bit more optimistic. "It was like Woodstock," said Josh Meyers, a sophomore, describing how it felt when news broke of Obama's historic win.
"I think that this shows the majority of Americans don't care whether a candidate is an African-American. It shows people overseas that we are not that country anymore, we are no longer the rich, white male stereotype," said senior Simon Sarver. Sarver did not vote for Obama or McCain but was not surprised or disappointed in the election results.
"Symbolically, this win was a positive thing for our country," said Dr. Carl Riden, co-director of women's and gender studies. "I certainly was moved to tears, as many, many other people were."
Hannah Rohle, a senior, did not vote for Obama but was more disappointed in the ways some of her fellow students chose to express themselves after Obama's win. "I think its sad how our generation is reacting to the election results. Some of the comments I have seen, like on Facebook, have been downright rude that I think that we would have gotten over by now."
Even though Rohle did not vote for Obama she believes now is not the time to dwell, but a time to come together as one nation.
"I think we are all one, we are all citizens and we need to move forward and all of the negative comments that some people are making are not going to change the election results."
Rotunda Reporter
He's been called the anti-Christ, a socialist and even a terrorist, and now after months of grueling work and pressure, Barack Obama can now call himself the 44th president of the United States.
When the news broke late on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 4, responses and reactions to the election results were felt far and wide. Students took to the streets and to their Facebook statuses with various chants of "Yes we can" to "I'm moving to another country."
On the campus of Longwood University reactions varied from shock to awe to surprise and to disgust as in the case of one Longwood student who believed he heard the song "Highway to Hell" playing in the background.
However, other Longwood students were a bit more optimistic. "It was like Woodstock," said Josh Meyers, a sophomore, describing how it felt when news broke of Obama's historic win.
"I think that this shows the majority of Americans don't care whether a candidate is an African-American. It shows people overseas that we are not that country anymore, we are no longer the rich, white male stereotype," said senior Simon Sarver. Sarver did not vote for Obama or McCain but was not surprised or disappointed in the election results.
"Symbolically, this win was a positive thing for our country," said Dr. Carl Riden, co-director of women's and gender studies. "I certainly was moved to tears, as many, many other people were."
Hannah Rohle, a senior, did not vote for Obama but was more disappointed in the ways some of her fellow students chose to express themselves after Obama's win. "I think its sad how our generation is reacting to the election results. Some of the comments I have seen, like on Facebook, have been downright rude that I think that we would have gotten over by now."
Even though Rohle did not vote for Obama she believes now is not the time to dwell, but a time to come together as one nation.
"I think we are all one, we are all citizens and we need to move forward and all of the negative comments that some people are making are not going to change the election results."
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