(Update: This post was originally mailed a week ago. For some reason, it got censored by the authorities. I'm not too sure what for. There was a complaint made against it. I looked through the post again but I couldn't find out what I said wrong. Its certainly not plagiarism as this article is original and not copied. So I'm putting it up again.)
Yes, he did. Though the number of votes cast for each candidate was close; Obama won a clear majority in the electoral votes.
And so Barack Hussein Obama has won the Presidency of the United States of America - the first African-American President. 143 years after the end of slavery in America (1865), 43 years after the end of racial segregation laws (1965), a black man has won the highest office in the most powerful nation on earth. It really is a historical moment in human history.
45 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., the great civil rights activist, said he had a dream that one day Americans would live together in peace, that racial strife would cease. This moment is part of his dream.
Obama, in his victory speech, said - "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.."
If anything, Obama is truly a gifted orator. But he is also intelligent, charismatic, handsome, and generally seems to be a decent man.
There are of course concerns about his socialist bent - and the influence of nutcases like Bill Ayers, a political mentor, and Jeremiah Wright, his pastor. Well, President Truman's political career was sponsered by gangsters. Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner when he wrote "All men are equal...".
From what I see of Obama - he did what he had to do to get to the top, if it meant associating with crackpots who held wacko views, so be it. A lot of people love Michael Jackson's music, but they don't share his taste for young boys. (Aside: No, I'm not a MJ fan)
Hopefully, he's sensible enough to dump the crackpots and keep them as far away as humanely possible. And very hopefully, he will be a quick learner in world finance and politics. And lean on the counsel of the most capable men in the land, no matter whether they are conservative or liberal.
He's a likeable guy with as SNL would put it "a voice like an angel whispering in your ear". With his party, the Democrats, in charge of both the Senate and the House of Reps, and the support of the people, hopefully, he'll be able to change things for the better and put America on the right path. He may even be able to end the bitter partisanship that so wracks American politics.
If he is truly intelligent, level headed and pragmatic; he'll dump the socialist agenda, shaft his extreme supporters, and push through much needed reforms such as overhauling the financial sector - ending the subprime mortgage loans - which was a Democrat agenda. It seemed like a good idea at the time; but clearly its been a total failure. Heck, he may even end affirmative action.
You say no? Yes, we can.
It was said it took a Nixon to meet up with Mao; a Reagan to negotiate with Soviet Russia, perhaps it will take an Obama to push through the tough, politically incorrect decisions America needs to end its spiral downwards. Watch his Victory speech here.
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