Friday, October 31, 2008 Lee: President Barack Obama By Kelvin Lee Babble On
WE are at the dawn of a new era.
Although the US Presidential election and its campaign season is not yet over, it is clear to any person that America will soon have its first Black President, Barack Obama.
Nevertheless, against all odds, John McCain still believes he can pull off an upset.
Unfortunately for him, history is not on his side. Few American presidential candidates have ever come back from a large deficit in the polls to win an election. (He is said to be trailing anywhere from 5-10 percentage points as of this writing.)
Al Gore came close in the highly contested 2000 election against George W. Bush, but in the end he still lost that one and he became the man who SHOULD have been America's President.
Perhaps McCain is thinking he can emulate Ronald Reagan who beat Jimmy Carter and became President despite trailing in nearly double-digit percentage points in the Gallup polls prior to the Election proper. But Reagan's comeback can be traced to his clear victory in the debate with Carter, where Reagan told off Carter with the question "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"
This debate victory was fresh in the minds of voters when they went to the polls. McCain will have no such luck when voting begins, as the three debates he had with Obama were inconclusive draws with no clear victor.
Many now consider the race all but over, even some quarters of the Republican Party, which is McCain's own party, believe it's over. It would take a major miracle for McCain to pull off a win, which is too bad for him.
McCain, who is 71 years old, is unlikely to be able to run for the Presidency again. This is his last race for the presidency, and it is probably the closest he can ever get to the White House.
So it will soon be President Barack Obama. And the world may well be better for it.
Frankly, it may be time for our Filipino leaders in the government to pick up copies of Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope," in order to get a better idea of how he thinks and of his stand on specific issues. I've gone through it myself, and though I disagree with some of his opinions in the book (his stand on abortion is one example), he is clearly an intelligent person who has given great thought to the issues of the day, carefully considering the angles involved before making a decision.
This would be in stark contrast to the current US President, who is said to make decisions based on his personal beliefs, looks at the world in black and white, and does not always weigh all the pros and cons before making a choice.
I, for one, am excited at the possibility of a black President, who is not only smart (he was a graduate of Harvard Law School and a member of its law review), but also principled (he has, so far, refused to run a negative attack campaign against McCain), and a careful decision-maker, who will engage the world rather than bully it as Bush did.
History is about to happen. And although we can't help make it happen (Filipinos obviously cannot vote in the US Presidential Election), we at least get ring-side seats.
(You can contact Kelvin at kelvinlesterlee@gmail.com or through his blog at www.kelvinlesterlee.wordpress.com)
