Obama secured his victory, Gilliland and her husband, Matt, sat
on a couch in their rented townhouse in Raleigh and watched
the returns come in on television
with a mixture of astonishment
and joy. When Obama was declared the winner, they shouted
and hugged. In Chapel Hill, students rushed Franklin Street, the
main drag through town, blocking traffic in both directions and
lighting bonfires — a ritual ordinarily reserved for Carolina basketball victories over the school’s
despised rival, Duke.
“I was ecstatic,” she says. “I
really felt like things were going
to change in the country and be
more positive. We were going to
close Guantanamo. We were going to get out of Iraq. I had hopes
that same sex marriage was going to become legal all across
the c