Sí, se puede.

I spent election night at a Democrats Abroad party. There, along with over 300 other Americans, I crammed myself into an air-conditioning-free bar on a 90+ degree night, to watch CNN in English and cheer stupidly for every statistic that appeared on the screen. It was a great night.

(The W in the photo is for Wesleyan, as I ended up hanging out with almost all the Wesleyan kids on my program that night).

Most Argentinians have followed the elections almost as closely as us, and are far more fervent Obama supporters than many people I know in the United States. At the Madres de Plaza de Mayo office today, three madres began running around excitedly when I came in (no small feat for 80something year-old women), kissing and hugging me as though I were personally responsible for Obama's win.

I also had a really interesting conversation with my host mom the day before the election. She also supports Obama and said she was worried that something would go wrong to prevent him from winning. Bush, she thinks, is an "immoral type" who would do anything to keep his party in power. Even though Obama had a clear lead at that point, it was difficult for her to conceive of a peaceful, minimally fraudulent power transition. I, on the other hand, despite believing in some degree of regular voter fraud, had never once considered the possibility that the rightful winner would somehow fail to gain power. It is a luxury to live in a country like America. For all of our many problems, we have a very good track record of switching parties peacefully and often. I don't think this is an innately American skill, as historical factors make this far more difficult to do in Argentina. Still, that conversation showed me, yet again, the degree to which national history affects the way individuals view the present.