America can be an amazing country in its ability to transform and metamorphose virtually overnight. Speaking personally - and I don't think I'm alone - I'm a 'foreigner' who, as of this morning, has renewed his love affair with the United States after eight years of almost despising the country, politically. After eight years of the squalid Bush administration where America's reputation throughout the world reached the pits, a Kenyan American black man, by one stunning victory, has changed that picture in a way that is little short of miraculous.
It makes me wish that Martin Luther King could have been alive to see this day. I'm sure he would have been very proud. I accept that Obama does not come from the former slave population of America, but from a mixed Kenyan and American parentage, but that's really a nit pick. His skin colour alone, not that many years ago, would have ruled him out of any contention for the highest office in the land.
And he motivated black voters in a way never seen before AND he achieved success with convincing the white electorate too. It is a stunning achievement in a country which, only 40 years ago, needed anti race discrimination laws forced upon it, where children were bussed to segregated schools, where black civil rights workers were set upon and killed.
There is a danger that too much will now be expected from a man who has been elevated to the role of America's - and the world's - Messiah. That's only natural given the hype but it is a major danger. Winning could be Obama's finest hour and the rest could all be downhill unless real change is seen in the first 100 days of his administration.
Just a word for John McCain. I think he is a good man but I'm relieved that he lost. I'm relieved not so much because of his ramshackle campaign -forced upon him to some extent by trying to be a 'new' Republican and distancing himself from Bush - but because he IS a Republican and, regardless of his own views, he would have carried the luggage of die hard Republicanism into the White House..and frankly the world needs a break from that...and it's got one - in style.
Obama has inherited a nation fraught by problems in the economy and with withdrawing from the Iraq mess that Bush created. How he handles both in the first 100 days will be a measuring stick of his executive qualities, hitherto untested. I hope too, that an Obama presidency may give a fresh impetus to resolving the Palestinian problem. I believe Obama can, and will, take a step back from the old Israeli-American bear hug which gave the US little room for manoeuvre and start taking a more objective position in negotiations. I don't expect the US to abandon Israel, and nor should it, but neither should the opportunities for a peaceful resolution to this issue be hampered by the US always being seen to be in Israel's pocket.
Amyway time will tell what kind of a president Obama will make. For now I will simply glory in the capacity America has for self renewal after eight years of ignominy, and last night they did it in style! God bless America!!!
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