O B A M A

Several months ago I watched a play on Broadway called Thurgood. The play was based upon the life of Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. It was a piece of history that was written in 1967.

Another piece of history was written yesterday when Senator Barack Obama was elected to be the next President of the United States of America. This was an election that was not only closely watched across the globe but was also a personal victory (or loss) for every American, across all sections of society, age groups, genders and race. Never in my memory has an election been as personal and as emotional as the one that made history yesterday.

Thanks to the time difference, I was up at the crack of dawn so I wouldn’t miss a single minute of the results. Not only was I switching channels on my television, I had live MSNBC on my laptop as a constant. When it was announced that Obama had got the required number of electoral votes to be the next President elect, I had a lump in my throat that wouldn’t leave. During his speech I had tears streaming down my eyes. I would have given anything at that point to be at Grant Park in Chicago and kept thinking about how stupid I was to not have stayed in the US until after the elections. I was so close to witnessing history live but I guess in my heart of hearts I had always been afraid of an Obama loss.

I had always maintained that Obama would not win. As much as I wanted him to and as much as I believed in him, I didn’t think that America was ready for a ‘colored’ President. Although during the last weeks I was starting to get more and more hopeful, I was still not convinced by the polls and found out only a couple of days ago that my fears had a name – it was called ‘The Bradley effect’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_effect).

I have never been happier to be wrong. America was ready for change and the color of Obama’s skin was unimportant. Although he was the right choice regardless of anything else, in my mind there were three factors that helped him tremendously – George Bush, the economy and Sarah Palin.

A few days ago I was jokingly telling a friend that if McCain wins, I will probably give up my American citizenship. However, I hadn’t really thought that Obama’s victory would make me want to move back to the States!

For the past several months I’ve had an Obama magnet placed strategically at the edge of a family picture on my refrigerator to make it look like he belongs to my family! It’s been a topic of conversation, a source of amusement and has also visibly upset a close Republican friend who was visiting from Chicago. On a side note, I’m truly amazed that we’re still friends!!

It’s going to be tough. The economy is a mess. Thousands of people are losing their jobs every month. Foreclosures are a common occurrence. Liquidity is an issue. The entire world is affected by recessionary trends in the US. Expectations from the new President are very high and he’s going to be closely watched.

Barack Obama is no Messiah. He is a President (in a couple of months) with a vision and a plan. He knows that the road ahead is tough and the damage cannot be undone easily. I don’t care what anyone else says, I think Obama is The One, in my family picture and in million’s of hearts. Do I think that he can turn things around?

Yes he can!