Barack Obama is President elect of the USA. This is a truly historic moment and quite possibly, one of the most important results in my lifetime. I have avoided watching any analyses on TV or online. I want to get my own thoughts in order first.
A UK citizen living near London, I stayed up until 02:30 this morning watching the results come in. Shortly after Pennsylvania was called for Obama, a senior Republican strategist all but conceded. I figured it was all over and went to bed.
I have been a fan of Obama since I saw him on the Daily Show. He presented as a charismatic, young African-American, intending to run, not as black candidate, but as a candidate who happened to be black.
What impressed me most was that he sounded so reasonable. Missing were the straw man arguments, the false choices, the mysticism and the bullying that have characterized politicians on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years.
He has continued to impress me. He strikes me as someone who was truly interested in finding solutions, rather than the usual peddling of special interests.
There can be no doubt that the USA has firmly ended the Bush era, but what next? There is a feeling of possibilities. Paths have opened up, that were never present in the Bush / Blair years.
Perhaps most importantly, the US will regain some of its self-confidence, and some of its moral capital. There will be opportunities to rebuild and strengthen the Atlantic alliance. The problems we face are global ones, and require global solutions.
Change I can believe in? I am willing to give it a go.
