The polls were wrong: the narrow win they’d predicted for an unlikely candidate in a historic American presidential election turned into a landslide victory for hope and change. When Americans overwhelmingly chose Democrat BARACK OBAMA as their leader on 4 November the world did more than heave a sigh of relief. In Kenya, where Obama’s father was born, people prayed, cried and cheered.
They did the same in Chicago where 120 000 people gathered to hear the president-elect hail the arrival of a new spirit in America.
In SA parliamentary Speaker Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde called Obama “another Nelson Mandela” and said, “If there is hope in the US there is hope for the entire world.”
Unprecedented numbers of young and first-time American voters - who queued for up to five hours - delivered a historic victory to the candidate for change. In his rousing acceptance speech his humility shone through: “We have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do.”
Some commentators called it the most important day of the 21st century and it’s clear the world has never expected as much from one man as it now does from Obama.
Much has been written about his mixed-race origins and multicultural upbringing which made him an unlikely candidate for US president, as well as the brilliance, charm and composure that won him the race.
He reflects many principles passed on from his white mother. In his book The Audacity of Hope he writes: “Like most of my values I learnt about empathy from my mother. She disdained any kind of cruelty or thoughtlessness or abuse of power, whether it was racial prejudice or bullying in the schoolyard or workers being underpaid.”
Obama also idolised his black father even though he became an abusive drunk and a womaniser.
He was a brilliant student, civil rights lawyer, law professor and US senator. His chief concern about the presidential race was about the impact on his lawyer wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Malia (10) and Sasha (7). The only time in his campaign that he became angry was when rivals tried to have a go at his wife.
Mutual respect is a guiding principle in his world, as is the idea that we share responsibility for one another’s welfare.
During the presidential race his critics complained he was “in too much of a hurry” to change the world.
Mr President, the world can’t wait!
