Like most Americans, VDB watched the Obama campaign from a stationary perspective. We stayed put, for the most part, while Obama circled the country eight thousand times, lighting to speak to groups small and large. But a few Vermonters took it on the road this campaign, one of whom you’ll remember from his earlier photo diaries: Bill Stetson.

All photos by Bill and Jane Stetson

Bill and his wife Jane were among the very earliest Obama supporters, not just in the state but in the country. And so when it all came to a rest, suddenly, in Chicago, Bill and Jane were there. And now you are too. — PB

Dear VDB,

Jane and I were grabbed by a very excited crew from NECN at Logan last night, and asked what we had seen in Chicago. Like all I had talked to after we won and all day yesterday (many of us operating on 2 hrs of sleep), we could only respond: “numb.”

It was absolutely the most confusing feeling. We stood on the field in Grant Park, next to the stage, people as far as the eye could see, the huge lit buildings of Chicago wrapping around us to the north, and when CNN announced “Barack Obama Elected President” we heard a deafening roar, people jumped up and down, screamed, cried. Thousands of strangers hugged as if they were lost friends, reunited after years.

Many of us just stood, frozen, processing the sights, the feelings — I think we were feeling not just the reality of this victory after years of work, but our country coming back to us — perhaps becoming the actual country our founders intended.

I thought of my Carolinian great grandfather, fed up with the reality of Americans hanging from trees because of the color of their skin, reaching out to rebuild their schools and vowing to crush the Klan.

I felt so united with this brave man.

I felt his blood and memory in me, and the tears running down my face. Many of the tears on the faces around me were for Americans who have suffered needlessly, and for the great America ahead of us. More later — I’m exhausted but glad to be home.

Bill