Barack Obama, a president for change?

Barack Obama has won a historic victory. He campaigned for change. His election will show the world that in the USA has really changed its race attitude and anyone can really be a president.

The Americans have voted for the first black president. This has broken the pattern that the US president is elected only when white and Christian.In the future, it won’t be a surprise if there will be a Hispanic president or a president of Asian decent. There are other categories in the USA that are still on the waiting list: Jews, Hispanic, Muslims, and Asians etc.

The victory of Obama has once again shown that the USA is an exemplary democracy. But it hasn’t created a more equal world. There are still minorities in different parts of the world struggling for political rights and it will be a rare possibility for them to have one of their members get to the highest position.

What is interesting about Obama’s victory is that it is a foreshadow of what America is expected to be in 40 years; that is with no racial majority. From now on, the Americans must get used to having presidents of different races, origins and why not religions. Obama has opened the gate for the expected change. It is unlikely that anyone can shut it to return the US politics to “white majority rule”.

Let’s remember American movies with wishful thinking that the US might have a black president. That appeared then just an imagination. The most memorable movie, I think is Head of State . Such movies are just a matter of the past. Now there is a real black president. It’s also thanks to Hollywood black artists like Will Smith that Obama has become the new Occupant of the White House.

Obama will show that the US is a really united country and race is a matter of the past. From slavery, to liberation, to fight for civil rights and finally to getting to the White House, the black struggle has come full circle. Obama -the son of an immigrant from a third world country- becoming president shows the American dream is still alive and anyone can make it to the top.

The fact that the Americans who voted for Obama were unreservedly excited, screaming tearfully with joy, shows that the majority have reconciled themselves with the past. The USA has proved that the Americans can be equal and distinguished on merit. Many countries have to follow their footsteps, instead of having leaders elected for life or a party dominating political life without allowing multipartism or dissent. Obama has succeeded in shaking many concepts and making the world debate this “new dawn” in US political landscape. It took the US decades to come to this. Other countries still need further decades to be on equal democratic basis with the USA. Let’s live long enough to see this happen!