Sunday, November 09, 2008 Lim: Obama By Melanie T. Lim Wide Awake
“Your candidate has won,” my friend tells me, “you must be really happy.” The truth is, I am beyond happy. I am ecstatic.
This has probably been the most-watched US election ever. With the US economy currently in crisis and the rest of the world’s economies hedged on its recovery or decline, everyone in the world has a stake in this political process. And you don’t have to be eligible to vote in these elections to opine about who Americans should vote for.
Obviously, I do not know Obama or McCain personally but when Obama won the primaries, this was just a no-brainer for me. It might surprise many that Hillary Clinton was not my candidate in the Democratic primaries. There is no question about Hillary’s experience, intelligence and competence in assuming the role of commander-in-chief but she played dirty. That’s a deal breaker for me.
I have no illusions about Obama creating miracles overnight: making the Dow Jones soar 500 points up, stopping global warming, ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But at least this man understands the need to stop greed in Wall Street. This man, after all, came from the working class and rose to the embodiment of the American dream. He was abandoned by his father and raised in an unconventional family set-up by his grandmother. Through hard work and persistence, he received an excellent education. Later, he became a community organizer. He certainly seems like a guy who has made many right decisions in his life.
This is a man who understands what it’s like to toil to get what you want. And his story is an inspiration to all of us—-that success does come to those who sacrifice.
This is a guy who is willing not just to go across the aisle in the Senate but to sit down with leaders of “enemies of the state” to think of more practical solutions for the future. This is not a hot head who will go to war if offended. As we already know, belligerence and the need to assert one’s supremacy in the world has not done the United States any good. But change has come to America now and the world is better because of it.
The American people did not vote for Obama because of the color of his skin. They voted for Obama because he presented a more credible, practical and workable platform for the future. But the color of his skin makes his election especially significant to the world. As late as the 1960s, segregation was still very much alive in the South -- different drinking fountains, buses and schools.
Obama’s election is significant not just to African Americans whose ancestors came to the New World as slaves but to the world as well because Obama’s ascendancy to the highest office of the United States is symbolic of how America has evolved —- certainly in the right direction.
The day Obama was elected 44th president of the United States, my 14-year old niece declared, “I can finally say I am proud to be an American citizen.”
While I am not a citizen of America, let me add my voice to the many in the world in saying that I have never been prouder of America for making the right choice.
