Ramblings on the Presidential Election 2008

Last night, Dennis, Alyna and I sat around the TV and watched the amazing American political election process. Living outside the US during a presidential election has forever changed my perspective on the importance of the democratic process and the role America playes in the world. Last night they showed election parties being held in Paris, Berlin, Kenya, and Japan.

There have been other things happening in the world; floods, political fighting, etc. but the two biggest news items have been the woes of the economy and the American presidential race. One African countrys' leader said something to the effect that "We need help but nobody will hear us until after the American election." The whole world was watching and waiting for what would happen in America. Most of the people that we have talked to here in the Europeon community wanted Obama to win.

I liked the statement the someone made to this effect - Rosa Parks sat on the bus so that Martin Luther King could march. Martin Luther King marched so that Barrack Obama could run for President.... It really shows how far our county has come in the last 100 years.

There hasn't been an election in my lifetime that has raised so much interest and participation. I tried to help Alyna understand what a monumental election this was, regardless of what way it went because we would either have the first woman in a Presidency or we would have a black president. We went to bed at about 1 AM and woke up just before 6 AM in time to hear Obama make his speech. I was impressed by his speech and watched in amazement all the parties and celebrations happening across the country and around the world.

It will be interesting to live and watch and participate in this next chapter of American history. Who knows were we will go and what changes we will see. Obama's campaign was based on building hope that America can be better, we can fix the things that have gone wrong, and we can all work together. We can hope that he can carry on that theme throughout the next four years.