A Season in Palm Beach

I'm going to keep a running chronicle of life in Palm Beach for the season. Something tells me it's going to be like no winter in the island's history. These first days since the election everything is the same and nothing is the same. Among some Republicans there is a fury about the election results, something I’ve never seen in my life. And among the workers in our building there’s a quiet joy and the feeling that this is their country now. It’s very European, reminds me of Paris in the Sixties. It’s that polarized. Wednesday, I had lunch with one of the ladies in my book. She said, “That black tar baby won and the only problem about him being killed is that the one who would take over would be just as bad.” Friday I attended a party at the home of Cynthia Friedman, a prominent Democratic fundraiser. All the Democratic heavy hitters on the island were there. There were some mixed couples, one spouse for Obama, the other for McCain. One pro- McCain man came up to me and talked about lunch that day at the Everglades Club. “We kept the Jews out and now we’ve got a n_____ in the White House.” I didn’t say anything but afterwards I wondered why did he think he could say such a thing to me?