President of the world!
IT took four hundred years, but on January 20, 2009, America atoned for its sin of slavery. This was America's third coming. In the first, Thomas Jefferson declared that "all men are created equal." Of course, Jefferson meant only white men who owned property.
Four score and seven years later, Abraham Lincoln reiterated Jefferson's declaration through the emancipation of the slaves. Another hundred and forty-five years elapsed before the American public elected its first African-American president.
It all happened so suddenly! Before Democratic nominee John Kerry picked him to deliver the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Party convention, very few people outside Chicago had heard of this obscure Illinois state senator.
This is the beauty of the American system. Unlike parliamentary democracies, where a potential prime minister has to come up through the ranks, in the American presidential system, candidates can come from nowhere and win the presidency. Carter and Clinton were also relatively unknowns when they ran for the presidency. American presidency is a far more powerful institution than the office of a prime minister. It is a combination of royalty and the office of the highest executive.
Over two million Americans braved a frozen Washington, DC to attend Obama's inauguration. Many will pay a price through sickness, reminiscent of the ninth US president William Henry Harrison, who delivered a rather boring 2-hour inauguration speech in bitter cold in 1841, and died of pneumonia a month later! These days, wisely, presidents speak for about 20 minutes, just as Barack Obama did!
In his brilliant inaugural address, appropriately, Obama addressed the world, especially the Muslim world: "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the Westknow that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." How refreshing to hear about "respect" and a possible handshake from a US president!
Of course the theme of change ran through the whole speech. Who would have thought that an American president would say in his inaugural speech: "For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindusand non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."
America is at war on two fronts, the economy is on the verge of depression, yet, Americans are so optimistic! I have never seen Americans so proud of their country and their president! I have never seen African- Americans wave the American flag with so much gusto!
Volumes will be written about the magic Obama's election brought to America. It is as though Obama pulled out the sword Excalibur from a stone, as in the Legends of King Arthur, and cast a spell over the whole nation!
America is celebrating not only Barack Obama's proverbial ascension to the throne, but also the end of its 8-year nightmare in the form of the catastrophic George W. Bush presidency. The audience booed as President Obama thanked the former president, who went home to Texas with a laughable 22% approval rating!
President Obama will face enormous challenges, some may prove insurmountable; but Americans do not want to think about it now. They just want to celebrate the end of their nightmare and the beginning of a dream.
The whole world got caught up in the Obama-mania. The French First Lady Carla Bruni was on David Letterman show a few weeks ago and said that she, along with the French nation stayed awake very late into the night to watch Obama win the presidency on November 4. Barack Obama was the world's presidential candidate. Now he is the world's president!
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