Well done, America
I was in the US for the last Democrat victory, back in 2000, and it's nice to see that in this case the election will be decided by popular mandate rather than by a single judge- that seemed to me a lot like taking one-man-one-vote a little far.
Hearing Obama's speech was much more moving than I expected and I am truly glad that he has won. A change was necessary and it seems that most americans knew that. As others have said, I wish we had such an interesting choice to be made next time we have an election but I know of nobody remotely as interesting anywhere in our parliament. Whether that is a result of the current state of british politics or my ignorance I don't know. Probably the latter.
I do worry that the system is too strong, that Obama won't be able to transcend the walls of resistance that have managed to stop most presidents from changing anything for much of the last century. I think his grassroots campaign funding may have helped though - he presumably owes a lot less to the great corruptors of world industry than most of his recent predecessor, but no doubt there remains a debt that they shall call in due course. It seems that he is probably as good a man for the job as anyone, so if the system can beat him then it has won absolutely and will have to be destroyed before the USA can be considered a meaningful democracy. Time will tell. But today the person with the most votes won the election and that, by recent standards, is a very hopeful start.
Hearing Obama's speech was much more moving than I expected and I am truly glad that he has won. A change was necessary and it seems that most americans knew that. As others have said, I wish we had such an interesting choice to be made next time we have an election but I know of nobody remotely as interesting anywhere in our parliament. Whether that is a result of the current state of british politics or my ignorance I don't know. Probably the latter.
I do worry that the system is too strong, that Obama won't be able to transcend the walls of resistance that have managed to stop most presidents from changing anything for much of the last century. I think his grassroots campaign funding may have helped though - he presumably owes a lot less to the great corruptors of world industry than most of his recent predecessor, but no doubt there remains a debt that they shall call in due course. It seems that he is probably as good a man for the job as anyone, so if the system can beat him then it has won absolutely and will have to be destroyed before the USA can be considered a meaningful democracy. Time will tell. But today the person with the most votes won the election and that, by recent standards, is a very hopeful start.