Obamamania

I am not American, and generally find politics abhorrent. That said, I am fascinated by America politics. Regardless of where you are in the world, what happens in America affects everyone else. I would take it further, and paraphrase what Martin Luther King said from the Birmingham jail all those years ago - injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. Because America is the largest, and most visible democracy, their influence on the world in massive. I have watched a predatory, aggressive, greedy, unjust America wreak havoc on the world for the last 8 years under the Bush administration. This election was critical. Four more years under a Republican administration headed up by McCain/Palin would have been catastrophic.

As much as I resonated with the ideals of Barack Obama, I was hoping that Mrs Clinton would get the nomination. My reasoning was based on my lack of faith in the America people - I did not think that a nation who voted overwhelmingly for George W. Bush a mere four years ago would be able to embrace a man who is, in every respect, his polar opposite. Bill Clinton was a good president, and Hillary is an extremely experienced politician - I thought she had a better chance of thwarting yet another Republican administration. I am so glad to have been wrong.

Yesterday I watched the inauguration of the first Black president of the United States. It was extraordinary - my sense, shared by so many, was that things had changed. Irrevocably, irretrievably, and without doubt, for the better. No-one has forgotten the crisis in the midst of the celebration, or the long hard road ahead, but when so many people, not only in America, but all over the world resonate with optimism and joy, then there is hope. "Yes we can, yes we can".

Barack Obama is an remarkable man - I watched as he walked through the corridor, and out of the doors to take the oath of office. There was no arrogance, or smugness. What I saw was the humility of a man fully cognisant of the enormous responsibility he was about to take on. He walked out to a rock star welcome, the biggest crowd ever seen at the inauguration of an American president, without losing any composure, and leaving no-one in doubt of his grasp of the gravity of the occasion. His speech was everything we expected of him, and more.

It seems that Barack Obama is the miracle, the central force of change. I disagree - Obama is the tip of the iceberg. I think his election, and the joy that accompanies it, shows that the world has changed. It is a triumph for all people who have rejected fear, force, aggression, and seen history repeat itself so often that it finally sank in - the old ways do not work, they are unacceptable, and there is a better way of doing things. A new way is being born, accompanied by all the labour pains you would expect. At the same time, the old ways are dying - clinging desperately onto life, but you can hear the death rattle, and it is getting louder.

When the election and inauguration of an American president causes so many people all over the world to resonate with joy and hope, it raises the vibration of the entire planet. What we witnessed was an unprecedented number of people all over the world united in a common optimism. This unity of people of all nations, races, and creeds is the true triumph of the day. In all of recorded history, we have no precedent for this. I feel deeply privileged and grateful to have been a witness to it.