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.