Obama won and I am celebrating. This vicotry is not so much about Obama – it is about the collective conscious of what used to be the most powerful nation in the world. The fact that he won with so much lead showed that people are fed of the state their nation was in and angry of the stiff, greedy, cruel class that was leading it for the past eight years.
The real question now is: how much will really change? In one week, when the euphoria is over, the country will still be involved in two unfair wars it cannot really get out of, it will still have a strong business lobby ruling it from the shadows, it will still be economically ruined, it will still be based on values which helped turn capitalism into a beast it just proved to be, bringing the world to the crash we are experiencing right now. I still hear the loud “boos” coming from the crowd when McCain compared increasing taxes for rich to socialism. This is still a country of people who believe in self reliance, that it is their duty to make it on their own, no matter how many sacrifices have to be made, and that having “made” it, is enough of a contribution to their society. They still believe that contributing a part of their self-made wealth is “socialism” and bad. Not everybody should be doing fine, only those who “deserved” it. To return to human values and to start flourishing again, this whole nation has to start thinking of itself as a collective, not as a bunch of individuals. Can Obama make that change?
USA is still the good old USA and Obama is a big refreshment and an opportunity but not a magician. What is important though is that he gave people a belief that change can happen, and that the power is in their hands, not in W’s. He returned african-americans their long lost dream and their dignity. He gave the rest of the world a hope that a different, better, fairer USA is possible. But what is most important, he gave his nation a feeling of liberation from old constraints. Let’s hope that this victory will also help the intellectuals to feel free and empowered to try and make a deeper change so urgently necessary in this country.
There is one thing I have to admit I am worried about. Security. Not the US security. Obama’s security. We all know what happened to many of the US’s great mavericks and ambassadors of positive change. I really hope he has the best personal protection a person can have. That he will go to Dallas and that he is not susceptible to “Monica” kind of traps.
There is one thing that struck me as I just watched the reactions from the streets on CNN. People are celebrating the first african-american president. For his skin color. Nobody was mentioning the ideas he is standing for. I know how much those people have suffered and I know how unfair the system still is to them. I know the race still is a big issue. But I do not think that the fact that Obama’s skin color is most important, and the only aspect that should be celebrated. This could only awake old hatreds. And after all, he is not black-black. He is black-white. Or white-black. He is everything. What is so much more important – he is a symbol of ideological change in his country.
Speaking of looks… I watched a documentary on both candidates last night and I was surprised to see how handsome John McCain was when he was young. And then I realised that both Obama and his wife are good looking people. Yes, we know that Joe Biden is very handsome and Sarah is a beauty queen. I wondered what does this mean. Does this say something about the US politics? Something about the country in general? Or is it a universal thing? But when you look at leading politicians of other countries, you don’t see much beautiful people. Still, Austria’s both increasingly powerful right wing parties are headed by what you could call handsome men. Slovenia’s new minister president is an ex-model….. Are looks becoming increasingly important, also in politics?
I’m off to watch more of that euphoria. It does feel good.
Tags: Elections, Readers, System, USA
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i’m celebrating with you
guess the whole world does right now. not sure though what exactly we are celebrating, i feel it has something to do with hope. when a single man (no woman yet but that will happen one day too) against all odds can enchant a nation divided to really want to become its own dream, what else could be possible? not to forget that John McCain wasn’t really the preferred candidat of the reps. because he shares a lot of qualities with Obama, like integrity, honesty, humanity in a way, after all hardly one of the Bushes and their entourage. so there is change in the US. Now what can we expect? Dark Shadows lie on the future, its almost hard to see the light. ironically they are shadows from history. first there is the real threat of Obamas assassination. it seems so logical, JFK, Martin Luther King and his own comparison to Abe Lincoln, when he mentioned him in his victory speech. Then there is this talking that something significant will happen on 21/22 January, Colin Powell said it and Joe Biden said it as well. and they do not mean the inauguration that is for sure. and there is all this expectation, all this projection of hope into one single man that can only be disappointed. it is like driftin into times of depression that seemed so inevitable that all of a sudden the idea of relief is like a drug that makes people high. the higher they stand the deeper they fall. and still i think the world got a little better today and i feel there is a real reason to believe that it will be a better place tomorrow. guess i’ll keep celebrating. and then i’ll start workin for it.
jeap, it happened! He won! And we are celebrating… But I keep on thinking this man is predestinated to fail, so much hope and expectation in his “changing” America and also the world, can only go wrong. We shouldn’t forget we are talking about the US democrats; this is really very far from socialism, even if McCain used this argument to scare the voters! I do not think he is going to change much and still I am happy he won and I think this do means something, it has to mean something, I am an optimistic after all, I guess!
About looks having to do a lot with success (also in politics!), of course Ana, in which world do you live in!!! Looks have been and will always be an important factor in having success. Whether we like it or not, this is a fact and that’s why I’m an image consultant!
Well, my optimism didn’t last much… I just read that the Californians (with 91% of all votes counted) are saying no to gay marriage!! Even with a decision of the Supreme Court that legalized it a couple of moths ago!!
So much for America changing!!