Finally, the world got to see something it had hoped for, but till some months back, never actually expected. We are lucky to have seen history in the making. As British PM Gordon Brown put it with an eloquence which matches Obama's, "This is a moment that will live in history as long as history books are written". And as I write this, Nehru's amar words echo in my head: "... a moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends ... ".*
Who could have thought that MLK's dream, of an America where one would be judged "not by the color of their skin but the content of their character" would be realized within the lifetime of some of the people who heard that speech of his, live.
Who could have thought that just two decades back, South Africa had a racist government, and it had had a man, a black one, in jail for ~28 years . Well, the world changed, and Nelson Mandela was released, and then went on to lead his nation, and within his lifetime would see Americans elect an african american their prez - who could ve thought it :). Another giant leap for mankind, Isn't it, Mr Armstrong :).
Who would have thought, that people advocating universal peace, people trying to do things for the benefit of all (not a particular caste, creed, race, class, religion or even nation), people good to the level approaching angels (at least in what they speak :)), people committed to humanism above anything else, could become, not only saints (think Gandhi, Mother Teresa), but presidents too, and of the US too, and despite the color of their skin.
Forget the saintly qualities, (which we thought made possibility of political success zero), the possibility that such an intelligent, thoughtful, sincere, capable man could get elected to a high profile political office in today's world - sounded too optimistic (Capable guys generally are selected, not elected, think our IAS guys and MPs).
But well done, and thank you, America - for proving otherwise.
And thank you Mr Obama.
You taught us that politics need not necessarily be divisive. That it is possible to attain popularity without dividing people in sets and then fueling hate in the minds of the majority against the minorties (think Hitler, and Sangh parivar, and Jinnah, or even commies which pit one "class" against another). In fact, in last century Obama is perhaps the only leader to generate this much euphoria without using HATE as a weapon, the other, to some extent** is JFK (skipping Gandhi here, though he did not fuel hate against any group, Indians, whom he led, already had one - the British).
You taught us that there was another way politics could be done, another way elections could be fought, and won. You invented this style.
You gave the world possibly the only revolution which was not "against" something.
It has been one of the tragedies of the world, that it needs one set of talents to try to make things better for the people (of the state / nation / world), and different ones to get elected to an office which 'd empower one to do so. You showed that these two sets of talents are not always mutually exclusive.
World (well, most of it) feels grateful to you for these (among other things). Right after the results became known, Guardian wrote, "London was damp and murky at 6am GMT today, just as it was at 6am yesterday. And yet, according to just about every news website, the world is a different place."
That world would be a changed place was after this election was known - but there was more to it, on the result of this election depended whether it would be a bitter place or a better one.
Thanks to (51%) America, it is the latter.
As I write this with smiling face and happy mind, Obama's words from a youtube video are echoing in my head, from the speech he gave after winning the Iowa caucus ["... I know how hard it is. It comes with little sleep, little pay and a lot of sacrifice. There are days of disappointment. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this, a night that, years from now, when we've made the changes we believe in, when more families can afford to see a doctor, when our
children inherit a planet that's a little cleaner and safer, when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united, you'll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began ... " Obama, after Winning Iowa Caucus, January 2008], how prophetic ... amazing :).
Well, not everything is +ve to take from this election result.
1) 48% of Americans opposed Obama, and though he'll be "their prez too", the fact remains that a dream candidate like Obama also couldn't garner support of almost half of US population.
2) Big part of the credit for his win is being given to the bad state of economy - which implies that apparently Obama's talent wasn't enough. It needed financial crisis of the century to move some of the voters to him - though this is only speculation, so nothing to break head over :).
* Guardian calls it end of an " American era that few will mourn" :)
** i m not sure how much JFK was loved (or not loved) by the african americans
