08AMA VICTORY!

The last time that I can recall being this tired I was, funnily enough, on the return leg of my honeymoon coming back from New York. The 2008 Presidential Campaign has been no less exhausting, or rewarding than that trip.

I finally got to bed at 4.45am this morning (GMT) having vowed to stay up until I was absolutely certain that Obama had done it. I'm glad I did, despite feeling all washed out and bleary today. It's hard to avoid cliches when trying to put into words how exciting and momentous an occasion it was, even for myself as a non-US citizen. I really got the feeling that, as a new dawn was creeping up my window, a different kind of dawn was breaking over Washington.

Experience has taught me the value of being a political cynic, but over the last year the small, still whisper of hope dared me to dream that Barack just might be able to do it. It was a child's voice, gently chiding me for being so jaded, but giving me sound reasons to think that this time might be different. Becoming a father gave me a new perspective on life. Obama's campaign in many ways struck a very personal chord with my hopes and fears for the future of the world in which my little girl is growing up.

This was the complex power of the simplest of messages; that the hopes and dreams of the little guy had become submerged in debt, blood, fear and crude oil. It was time to clean house, and more generally, to move forward as responsible citizens of the World.

It became clear pretty early on that Obama was very likely to win this, but I was still surprised as the full extent of the inroads that the Democrats had made into key battleground states. The BBC online coverage made for compelling viewing, if a little rough round the edges due to it being live, and it was interesting to note the differences between the US and UK electoral apparatus, principally the vote-weighting of the electoral college system.

McCain's speech conceding the race was as gracious as I've ever seen a beaten ticket provide. I can’t help but feel that if he'd been allowed to keep away from personal attacks and mud-slinging, and really tried to clarify key ways in which he would differ from Bush, then this election might have been a darn site closer. Indeed, the McCain campaigns insistence on an incredibly narrow agenda of soundbites and issues presented less of an image of clear focus, and more one of not wanting to enter discussions about things that they could not provide competent answers to.

The yawn-inducing merry-go-round of 'job creation', 'alaskan energy security' and 'we're mavericks!' became extremely tiresome and more hollow every time it was deployed. And, yes, it was usually Palin doing much of the deployment, sticking to her little list like her political life depended on it. You could almost picture her advisors and debate trainers shaking her by the shoulders and screaming 'stay on the path', fearful that to stray would mean that she'd be quickly devoured by more cunning political animals - especially Katie Couric :)

As an aside, it was with great satisfaction that I witnessed Sarah Palin standing close to tears beside McCain last night, a look of childish glumness etched upon her face. This is about as near to missing another Bush-sized political train wreck as I hope the US ever comes again. I'm sure that she can serve Alaska well, but hope that the Republican party are never quite so desperate to turn to her in future for answers or leadership. It'd be a faustian pact indeed if it succeeded, but if she is indeed the next bright young hope of theirs, then Barack & co. can sleep soundly in their beds for the next 4 - and probably 8 - years.

I don’t think it's overdramatic to say that the Winds Of Change and optimism were very much at Barack's back during this campaign. In the end, a powerful and heady combination of several factors has propelled him to the highest office in the land :

1) The powerful 'anti-republican' protest vote. We saw this effect in the UK when the Conservative party were finally booted out of power by Labour. Voting for someone because they are not the status quo (that has been so terribly divisive) has to be a huge factor.

2) A new generation of young, energised, and inspired voters who could finally identify with a candidate on many different levels. Besides the obvious african-american vote, Obama is a superb orator who oozes sincerity and control in a way that McCain just couldn't combat, nice guy as he is.

3) The Obama camp's ability to seize the initiative in logistical terms; exploiting new contact and fundraising methods on the internet (such as Facebook), harnessing huge amounts of donation money in the correct way to enable a real concrete, personal presence within the States they were really fighting for. Frankly, the Obama campaign caught the imagination which then had a snowball effect on popularity, and from thence voter turnout.

I'm no expert (hell, I'm not even a US citizen, I'm a Brit) but I honestly believe that the vast majority that they've polled shows that the US has signalled a firm readiness to move even further away from it's shameful past, and that with this new generation of informed and forward-thinking voters, a significant proportion of the old, stale race arguments are truly consigned to the history books, never to re-emerge no matter how desperate the Republicans may get.

As the line in the song goes (I forget which one, maybe it was several different songs?), I had personally wondered if the US had been 'down so long' that it had 'forgotten which way was up.' Obama now has a clear mandate to help clear the country's conscience, as well as reminding us of the simple human truth that no man is an island.

Unrestrained, unfettered competition and super-capitalism may be the traditional American way, but this election proves that Americans as a whole are no longer willing to aim for success at any human or social price. They may not be ready to embrace the idea of being their brother's keeper yet, but they can at least stop turning him into roadkill chasing personal prosperity.

In closing, words cannot adequately express how delighted I am that Barack has been elected. Quite apart from the vast historical significance this holds for the african-american community in the US, at its core it's a triumph of transparent pragmatic humanism over entrenched, aged pessimism. I hope that Obama and Biden will stand by their stated bi-partisan approach, gaining enough consensus to briskly move required legislation forward while not compromising too much the central promises and aims stated during their honourable campaign.


Barack Obama, 44th President Of The United States Of America, I salute you sir.