I had never heard of Barack Obama until I happened to be watching the Democratic National Convention a couple of years ago on TV and a young African-American senator made one of the most compelling speeches I have ever heard.
It was one of those rare occasions when someone gets your attention and it is impossible for you to let go until they finish talking.
Some people immediately started thinking if he wasn't African-American and his name wasn't Barack Obama he might have a chance to be something big some day.
Well, his name is Barack Obama and he is African-American and he now lines out on the same team as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln FDR and JFK, not bad for a multi-racial son of a single parent family raised by his grandparents.
The fact that the Fermanagh Herald is even talking about it let alone getting readers like myself living in America to give their humble opinions tells me that this was an American election that electrified the world.
For the past eight years there has been a certain amount of contempt for world opinion in American politics. I think the world believes with Obama as president America will revive that respect it once had for the input of other world leaders.
Most nations in 2008 are multi cultural. The forty shades of green have been replaced by forty different cultures in an Ireland of the twenty first century.
It is time for twenty first century world leadership.
I believe Barack Obama has brought a level of youth, style, optimism and hope not seen since that other young leader of Irish descent who fascinated and inspired the country and the world nearly a half-century ago. Hopefully he will have the same results by regaining the Americans' confidence in their leadership, of consumers in their economy and of the rest of the world in America that was lost during the Bush administration.
Hopefully, he will be given more time to achieve his goals than that other young leader.
I haven't seen a politician fill arenas like a rock star until this election.
There was excitement in the air and the masses turned out in huge numbers to listen to him describe what his vision was for America. Here in Hartford, Connecticut over twenty thousand people lined the streets to get into the local basketball stadium for a rally. I could tell I was witnessing something different and something special.
Recuperating from brain surgery, Ted Kennedy asked this promising candidate to take his place as commencement speaker at Wesleyan University in Middletown where I live. Thousands sat for hours in the hot summer sun to hear him.
In large cities and tiny towns it was all the same on election day. Voters lined up for hours to cast their vote. It was history in the making.
Throughout the country there were thousands of first time African-American and Spanish-American voters who voted democratic across the board and as a result some long time established republicans lost their local seats.
It was not just black and Spanish votes that got him elected. He needed the white vote, the Asian vote, the female vote, and the young and old votes. He needed the united American people vote and he got it. Here in Connecticut thirty-two towns that voted Republican in 2004 voted Democratic in 2008.
The 44th President of the United States Barack Obama--the bookies would have given good odds on that bet. Spike Lee has added a new dimension to his calendar B.B (Before Barack) and A.B. (After Barack).
Young African-Americans are seeing for the very first time the most famous black man in the world is not the heavyweight champion. He is not a rapper, he is not a movie star (although I foresee Will Smith with the lead role in Obama the movie). The most famous black man in the world now is the Harvard-educated President of the United States.
The door to endless possibilities and young dreams has been blown off its hinges. Forty years later "I have a dream" is becoming a reality. On January 20th he will inherit monumental problems.
The economy is plunging, unemployment is skyrocketing, two wars are raging and a massive federal deficit is exploding but he also has a monumental advantage, the rest of the world respects him.
His mixed-race ancestry and his family ties to other nations give him a unique perspective on foreign affairs. If he puts into his foreign policy one tenth of the talent and discipline he put into his campaign he will be able to make real headway and hopefully build strong relationships with major world powers.
America and the world are looking forward with great anticipation and optimism to the next four years!
