Watched bits of Obama's victory speech to his adoring throng on the telly last night - how could you avoid it, it was everywhere. Give the man his due he is a very, very polished act in the oratory department. I haven't heard a speech giver like that for many a moon - good stuff. I'm not talking of the content here (more of this later) but the 'product' is superb. He's young (well younger than me so he's really young), handsome and generally well turned out. I like the fact he campaigns in shirt sleeves and without a tie. He has an attractive (if somewhat oddly shaped) wife and a couple of kids who don't pick their nose in public. He really looks the business. Yesterday we witnessed an extraordinary event - something that is being likened to a handful of world forming days in history.
A black man is elected President of the United States only forty years or so after the civil rights movement was at its peak. Momentous stuff indeed. I was only nine when JFK got the nod and remember it not at all but I can certainly answer the 'Where were you when you heard Kennedy had been shot' question (waiting for a bus to take me to swimming with the 22nd Wimbledon Scout Troop as you ask). What else would you put with that? Man landing on the moon? (watched it on Dad's black and white telly at home) What else? Dunno. Obama getting the votes yesterday? Time will tell.
But now what? What have the US citizens voted for. A vast majority have, I suspect, voted for all of the above - the package - and that's it. There are people of various colours who genuinely believe he was born in a manger. There is a scary video on YouTube of a young black woman who really seems to think that the government will now pay her mortgage and put gas in her car. A radio station in New York conducted interviews a few days ago asking people why they were voting for Obama. All said it was because of his policies and not because he was the sharp looking black dude. The reporter then asked which policy they particularly liked - leaving troops in Iraq, choosing Sarah Palin as running mate or any of the other McCain policies. To a one they all picked on one of the opposition's platforms as the real reason they were going to vote for the sharp .......
We shall see. The Obama machine and especially the charismatic main man has cracked himself up to be a hard act to live up to. I hope he performs. I'm not too sure I agree with all things he says he is going to perform but he's got the votes lets see what he can do. I also hope he doesn't get himself shot.
As an aside look at both the victory speech from Chicago and the loser's effort from Phoenix. All class. Compare and contrast the drivel we have to put up with in New Zealand. If and when the Wicked Witch gets the bum's rush on Saturday do we expect anything other than the spitting of bile and vitriol as she drags her sorry backside from Government House?
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