Wednesday 5 November 2008

Well done Obama

Love him or hate him - he ran a fantastic campaign, and raised a record breaking amount of money for his campaign. Not dominated by big donations from the wealthy, but rather millions of small donations. The widows mite a good analogy as his campaign has been almost Messianic. And not wishing to over play the analogy, but I fear white supremacists will be out to crucify him, before he can get to the White House, or as soon as possible thereafter.
It will be interesting to see if his vision that has captured the heart of America is translated into reality. Obama has the legitimacy of a land slide victory, the good will of many foreign nations. Change is something that is yearned for the world over. And nothing needs change more drastically than American foreign policy. So a vision has been created, there has now been created great anticipation. What now will be delivered? And delivery is everything, as every mid-wife will tell you.
I wish him well. I was surprised that Republicans chose a fine but aged man to run, but all so easy to say in hindsight. I personally liked Mit Romney and Rudy Giuliani. But maybe this election was not the one to get selected for. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. The hour now is Obama's, and justly deserved. He ran the best campaign, was the most charismatic, and created the vision that connected with most Americans. He was for the most part positive and concentrated on what he would deliver, and came across as a formidable statesman.
All men are more equal now in America. This election alone has redeemed the hypocrisy that there has been on this fundamental decree in the American Constitution for centuries. And the most moving images for me have been those of the people that choose to call themselves 'African- Americans'. Millions have waited to register, and the tears and joy on the faces of this American underclass have been remarkable. Hope has replaced despair. I hope for them it is not a false dawn. They have taken far too high a mortal toll in home and foreign policy.
I hope the other great unequal group will emerge now with more confidence in the political arena - women. I like Sarah Palin. The left wing media and press has tried to vilify her, and make us feel guilty admitting it - but I like her. She is young, new and inexperienced, and I hope this election has not been her ruin. We shall see.
So opens a new chapter in American and world politics. We have arrived at a cross road, and an American dream has been realised, or may there may be trouble ahead ....

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The first Black man in the White House, the youngest President.

When Hilary Clinton threw her hat into the ring, it was a forgone conclusion. She was the next US President. At this stage of the game, she had raised more corporate money than any other contender in history. Then along came an upstart with a funny name who no one had heard of. And the rest as they say is history.

President-elect Obama, or Senator Obama as he was then, did not go cap in hand to Big Business, had he done so they would have shown him the door. Instead he relied on ordinary folk sending in their small donations. In that sense it was a revolution of the people.

The election was bought with $700 million. That is not in anyway to belittle all those ordinary folk who not only donated but went out and worked the streets, but to recognise the reality, in the US it is money that buys elections.

Money to one side, it was people who elected Obama. People turned out to vote, people registered their vote, people worked the streets.

This was reflected in voter turnout and is at odds with the doom sayers. People will vote if there is a candidate worth voting for, if not, they quite sensibly stay at home. Why legitimatise the illegitimate?

The only real comparison, is Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Venezuela, had like Colombia, a two party system. In 1989 people took to the streets against IMF policies. They were brutally gunned down. No one knows how many were massacred, but it is thought to run into tens of thousands. Hugo Chavez mounted an unsuccessful military coup in 1992. He was imprisoned, but again the people took to the streets and he was released. He was elected by the people, the two big parties were humiliated. Since then he has pushed through programmes of social reform, the most important being pushing power out to the people. Oil money instead of lining the pockets of the rich and enriching global corporations, has gone on clinics, on education, on literacy, not just for the young, but also those who missed out on their education due to poverty. A second revolution is now taking place, a revolution within the revolution, purging local government of all the corrupt officials.

Obama is of the people, and that is what is most feared in corporate circles, a President controlled by the people, not a president controlled by corporate interests and political elites.

The illegal war on Iraq was the first corporate war since the British sent in the military to defend the interests of the East India Company. Well ok, we had the US sending in the troops to defend the Panama Canal.

Obama now needs to follow the example of Chavez and carry out real reform.

It is not that Chavez controls the flow of oil that is most feared, it is that he is handing power to the masses.

Able candidate that he was, John McCain did not stand a chance. Unpopular George W Bush, economic meltdown, two unpopular wars.

McCain was not helped by Sarah Palin, who may have appealed to a few rednecks and neo-Fascists, but no one else once she opened her big mouth. With a bit of luck she disappears back into Alaskan obscurity whence she came.

There are though lessons for the UK.

Candidates that are of the people, for the people. Not party hacks and Big Business puppets, the best money can buy.

Party funding has to be reformed. Only small donations can be allowed. No state funding. Drastic curbs on party spending.

If parties were needing the money for research so that they were better informed there may be some justification. But all they spend it on is advertising which impresses no one.

We judge by what you do, not by what you say.

He who pays the piper calls the tune. Parties are far too indebted to those with the most cash to hand out. Who then call the tune.

A small window of opportunity is available when the world looks on and smiles. This has to be used to build better relationships with Russia and the rest of the world.

President Jimmy Carter introduced a crash energy saving programme, which Ronnie Reagan cancelled. Franklin D Roosevelt introduced the New Deal.

Minimum 80% cuts in greenhouse gases.

A better deal for the world's poorest people.

A lot on the shoulders of one man.

Anonymous said...

After the euphoria, the rock star style concerts, the fact he is not Bush, what do we actually have?

The last person to hold these type of rallies was Adolf Hitler!

People queued for five hours to get into the park, waited a further five hours for Obama to turn up. And what did he do, did he address the crowd? No. He turned through 90 degrees and addressed a bank of TV cameras.

Rumour has it that he might appoint Colin Powell. Why, because he is Black?

Colin Powell covered up the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. He lied to the UN about Iraq.

Obama backed Bush with his illegal war with Iraq.

Martin Luther King said “do not judge a man by the colour of his skin but by the content of his character.”

- World has now a new emperor
- President Obama's trickery

Anonymous said...

Is it a new face but the same old Bush neo-con policies?

- B'IRAQ OBAMA
- Obama speaks on Iran
- Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons 'unacceptable': Obama

Anonymous said...

The emerging consensus on Iran in US foreign policy circles again underscores the fact that the differences between Obama and McCain were purely tactical. While millions of Americans voted for the Democratic candidate believing he would end the war in Iraq and address their pressing economic needs, powerful sections of the American elite swung behind him as a better vehicle to prosecute US economic and strategic interests in the Middle East and Central Asia—including the use of military force against Iran.

- Obama advisers discuss preparations for war on Iran

Anonymous said...

What damage will Bush cause whilst still in power?

In the next few weeks, the Bush administration is expected to relax environmental-protection rules on power plants near national parks, uranium mining near the Grand Canyon and more mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia.

- Bush Officials Moving Fast to Cut Environmental Protections

Obama has to commit to overturn these measures.

Anonymous said...

David, You do not have a clue about Obama or American politics!

David Clifford said...

There may be some truth in that! And going by the recent landslide victory - I would guess from that revealing remark you don't think most Americans have a clue about Obama or American politics either!!