Obama the President!

The elections are over and Obama has become the 44th president of the United States. This brown-skinned beanpole has become president of a country which a few years ago was battling with the people of his color, preventing them from mixing with whites or frequenting the places in which their hallowed race congregated. The election ended in a distinguished and historic win for the first black man who will enter the White House through the front door with his head up, instead of the back door reserved for his grandfathers when they entered with bowed heads, broken-willed under the pall of captivity and the shackles of slavery. Obama won, but victory isn’t enough: he made it an historic victory that expressions of doubt cannot deny, a victory befitting all the talk of change that he trumpeted.

All indications were that he was the winner from the beginning. His personality, ideas, ethics, and principles drove him quickly toward the presidency at a time when the ideas of his aged Republican rival crawled, foundering, at a turtle’s pace. In the end, the Americans chose the philosophy of “change” instead of the notion of “intimidation,” which the Republicans had grown accustomed to using, and through which they had succeeded in gaining the sympathy of the people. But it was no longer considered a winning card after the sitting president’s profligate unjustified consumption, in conjunction with the loss of prestige and collapsing economy of the strongest country in the world.

Obama spoke in his hometown of Chicago. He spoke to its people and the American people. He was as usual forceful in his rhetoric, eloquent in his expressions, and clear in his words to his supporters. He was confident as he took the stage and he was calm, humble, and passionate. He knew that he was making history and he realized that in moments mixed with tears and laughter. His humility and passion only increased, as did his gratitude for the crowds who believed in him, supported him, and were certain that he was the change that they sought to rescue the White House from its hijackers.

It wasn’t an ordinary joy and it wasn’t a landslide victory, but it was a hope hundreds of years old for blacks who lived dreaming of the day when they would step up to the podium and seize the crown of glory and dignity, and to make their strength known. The black Obama tonight became president of the United States. The famous presenter Oprah Winfrey spoke through tears following the event with the crowds in a garden in Chicago, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke while crying like a child. The black nation in the United States stood up after years of racism and oppression.

It was hard for a guy like Obama to lose, but it was easy for a guy like McCain to do so. The ideas of the two men are at odds, their dreams are separate, and their talents differ. The former has hope and change and the dream of generations; the latter, recklessness and bad choices and Joe the plumber. Obama holds and makes the winning cards, while McCain always takes the losing cards and is left behind. The sullen old coot began with the rookie woman as his VP pick, then appealed to a plumber dreaming of riches, and concluded with a video begging a well-known newspaper to endorse him.

Obama achieved victory and perhaps now he is celebrating it with his family, relatives, devotees, and members of his campaign, while McCain has returned home to spend the rest of his days looking back on the past and reminiscing. His deputy Palin will return to her village to continue her hobby of hunting, which is perhaps the single thing which she has mastered and is able to discuss without confusion, mistakes, or gaffes and dragging herself and her party down. The United States will remain a large country in terms of its people and its system, which chose a black president in defiance of bigots and white racists.