Wednesday 5 November 2008

Congrats Barack!


I am still bleary eyed. I stayed up late last night to follow the results of the American election. I don't know what prompted me to do it because I'm not American and will never be an American. I was just really curious how it would turn out. I felt a nagging suspicion that history was in the making and I didn't want to miss it.

Even if the win was expected as he's been topping the polls ever since the campaign started, goosebumps creept up on my skin as I found out that Barack Obama has been elected as the President of the United States of America.

It was indeed unprecedented. He won by a landslide and now he is the first black to hold the most powerful position in the world. It is inspirational. His was not only a personal or his party's victory - it was a victory shared by every African American, Hispanics, Asians or those that have always been tagged as the "lesser" races. And it is a victory for every Americans who just showed the world that anything is possible. That the color of one's skin doesn't determine what he's capable of doing and doesn't limit how far he can go. They are commendable by shutting the door of racial discrimination for good. It is just so hard to hate America right now. 

I was sad when I realized the era of the great leaders had ended - the era of Tony Blair, Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul II. But now it seems the wheel of time is turning. A new era has begun. A new person is stepping up and perhaps leading it. He's got so much on his plate right now. Not only is he inheriting the economic crisis, the Iraq war and all the mess the Bush administration cannot solve, people are expecting too much from him - even a lot more than what's required from the President of America. So he needs all the help he can get. Americans should now cast aside the divisiveness that separated the country into two warring factions during the campaign. They should now rally behind their new leader and amaze the world again.

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