From Ford Model T cars that popped off the assembly line in just 90 minutes to 60-second service for burgers, the United States has had a major hand in making the world a frenetic and impatient place, primed and hungry for instant gratification.
So waking up to the news on Wednesday that the winner of the U.S. election might not be known for hours, days or longer — pundits filled global airwaves with their best bets — was jarring for a planet weaned on that most American of exports: speed.
In the absence of an immediate winner between President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden, the guessing game of trying to figure out which of them would end up in the White House, and how, quickly turned global. Government leaders scrambled to digest the delay and ordinary people swapped views, hopes and fears on feeds and phones.
“I’m hearing it may take some time before things are sorted out,” said the finance minister of Japan, Taro Aso. “I have no idea how it may affect us.”
In Paris, a Spanish resident, Javier Saenz, was stunned to wake up without a declared winner.
“I thought there was going to be something clear. And I have read different articles, no one really knows who is going to win,” he said. “I am very shocked by that.”
Concern in Europe
But the lack of result was not that surprising to experts. In a year turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic, many States made it easier to vote by mail. That meant a slowdown in compiling results because postal ballots mail often take longer to process than those cast at polling places.
Still, the unease of not knowing was mixing with sharpening concerns about how America might heal after the divisive election and anxieties fuelled by Trump’s own extraordinary and premature claims of victory and his threat to take the election to the Supreme Court to stop counting.
From Europe, in particular, came appeals for patience and a complete tally of votes. In Slovenia, the birthplace of first lady Melania Trump, the right-wing Prime Minister, Janez Jansa, claimed it was “pretty clear that American people have elected Donald Trump.”
The German Vice-Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, insisted on a complete tally, saying- “It is important for us that everything be counted and in the end we have a clear result.”
