O-Bama!
Posted by JoNov 5
I was watching the film Bobby (based on the death of Robert Kennedey) when the American citizens were going to cast their votes yesterday. I did not consiously choose this movie for the day but it just happened to be so. Ironically, there were so many similarities between what was going on and off the screen yesterday. Bobby (Robert Kennedey) was seen as a beacon of hope for all those who loved peace and hated war, the war in vietnam to be particular. He was also the last hope of blacks as one of the characters from the film say, “after Dr. King, the only hope that we have left is Bobby“. But at the end of the movie Bobby gets shot.
Robert F Kennedy was murdered in 1968. 40 years later, people of America were going to vote for another beacon of their hope – Barack Obama. The backdrop of the election is almost similar to 1968. There are young American soldiers dying in the foreign lands, fighting a war of which they are clueless, and the economy is soaring and the recession has taken grip. I remember an online friend of mine from USA telling me that, “our president (Bush) is busy watching over the world, but we are running out of money and employment“. And for them, the word hope meant Barack Obama, the underdog in the beginning of the US presidential election campaigns who fought over and won to become the first African-American president of the United States. Obama’s victory is a historic event and it has proved that a ‘change can happen‘ as his campaign slogan says.
What touched me though, were the speeches by Sen. McCain and Obama after the election results came out. We in India are quite used to the speeches where those who lost the elections would blame it on anything and everything for their failure and even would attack their opponents. But look at what McCain had to say: “I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face“. I don’t think any of our political leaders would have the guts to say that or the rest of what he said in his speech after Obama’s victory.
Even though so many countries of the world are happy about Obama’s victory, India has several reasons to worry. That Obama is anti-outsourcing which could hurt India’s IT and ITES jobs sector badly and he is stricter on the nuke deal. He also intends to send CTBT to India, a move which was contoversial when it came to news some times back. Analysts said before the elections that a McCain government would be more in favor of India.
Anyhow there are people in India and other countries who seem to be happy about the victory of Barack Obama. But I am not sure what reasons they have to be happy about. The people of America have shown that they have got past their racist mindset and sent the first African-American president to the White House. That they have shed their hatred and united together for the betterment of the country. When will we shed our hatred towards our own countrymen?
(Image courtesy: www.barackobama.com)
Related posts:
- Sonal Shah is Obama’s first mistake O-Bama! There is so much talk going on about Sonal...
- A strong blow to the BJP and Left O-Bama!The verdict is coming out and it’s definitely embarrassing the...
- M-Pod: new episode O-Bama!M-Pod, the Malayalam podcast, has a new episode discussing the...
- The aftermath of the elections O-Bama!The election results from the 5 states – Delhi, Rajasthan,...
- Hopes on a visit O-Bama!This is a classic example of how much we, the...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
4 comments
Comment by Oru Kadhika on November 6, 2008 at 6:28 am
Thanks for the nice article on the event of the year. If one is emotionally grounded, I would argue that the easiest speech to give is always the concession speech. You have so much goodwill, sympathy and all those excess tears going your way. In civilized societies, one has to be gracious and conciliatory in situations like this. That’s not really “an” option, but actually the only one. As a registered independent and having attended a few of McCain’s and Obama’s recent rallies and events here for the sake of my own conscience, I can confidently say that this must really be one of the best speeches McCain gave all season. The problem with McCain was he was too much driven by the campaign committee. Unfortunately the Plouffes and Axelrods and Gibbs’ were simply better at this game than anybody else McCain could conjure up.
You are probably stretching the facts a tad bit by saying Obama is anti-outsourcing. Though only time will tell, Obama will rule from the center rather than adopting too much of a liberal or a conservative stand. America of 2008 is a very different place from anything we have seen in the past. I also hope people stop referring to Obama as an African American president from now on. Though it helped him get elected here is a candidate that transcends all colors and cultures. Born of bi-racial parents and having a step family of all possible colors, here we have a totally untested unknown, articulate nevertheless a beacon of hope as the leader of the free world.
Truly proud to be an American today and I’m not even telling who I voted for
Comment by Jo on November 7, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I do agree that Obama represents the diversity that American society has. However, being black and elected as president in America is a remarkable thing, IMHO (similar to the Dalit and Muslim presidents India has had in the recent past). But Obama has a challenge to face. He better shed his ‘black president’ image because, I think, the USA and the world have other high expectations of him. I hope that he live up to it.
Pingback by Sonal Shah is Obama’s first mistake on November 14, 2008 at 9:28 pm
[...] so much talk going on about Sonal Shah, the newly appointed Indian-American of US president-elect Barack Obama’s transition group. It all started with some news items pointing out Sonal’s [...]
Pingback by Mutiny.in » Sonal Shah - Obama’s first mistake on November 14, 2008 at 9:32 pm
[...] so much talk going on about Sonal Shah, the newly appointed Indian-American of US president-elect Barack Obama’s transition group. It all started with some news items pointing out Sonal’s [...]