- New President, Hope for Change
- November 5, 2008 Filed under: Events, Firsts, History, Human Rights, People, Politics
I couldn’t be more excited about last night’s election results and the electricity in the air today. America already seems like a new place though the official handoff won’t happen til after the new year. There’s an almost unfathomable amount of work to be done to realize the change Obama has campaigned on and he’s entering an environment that, in itself, almost requires miracles. If the world doesn’t see the change he has inspired us to work toward, many will say he sold us a bill of goods, or an empty promise. If he can unravel the disaster that has become the United States government over nearly the past decade he will be celebrated beyond what I can begin to imagine. It seems an all or nothing proposition. That man has guts, but he also has follow-through. I am very hopeful, as he wanted us all to be. But the task at hand is clearly large enough to merit at least a little skepticism.
Just following Obama’s speech last night in Grant Park, I stumbled onto a site in Sri Lanka where a blogger could only find in this historical moment sarcasm and the despair (paraphrasing): “Big deal. When will Obama lower our food costs?” I hear this kind of thing surprisingly often in Sri Lanka. The country is on the opposite side of the planet from the US and incapable of feeling the results of such a sea change immediately. But Sri Lanka, I think (and I argued on the site) WILL feel a difference. It might take a while. But I feel this election will ripple across the world in ways I’ve not yet seen in my lifetime.
Still, I was curious about what other countries, or people from the US that are in other countries, felt about last night’s events. Here’s a snapshot of opinions from around the world:
World Celebrates… (Times Online)
A Change for the Better (Pravda)
World Reacts…(Al Jazeera)
Jubilation Follows…(Al Jazeera)
Latinos Turn Out in Force (Yahoo)
Mideast Echoes Obama’s “Change Message, Skeptically (Reuters)
U.S. Troops React to Election News (CNN Politics)
Late Addition: Reactions from around the world…These are but a handful of examples, but all of them show that the eyes have been focused on this election and the message it sends. My own message may not be even as significant as that of the Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has already sent his congratulations to Obama on his victory, but let me say it nonetheless:
Congratulations to President Barack Obama and to all the supporters who helped make this historic event.
