The world must have had a long, sleepless night; but finally, it has come to this wonderful end. American voters made history by electing their new president, Barack Obama of the Democratic Party. The junior senator from Illinois beat Republican war veteran John McCain after months of rigorous campaigning - and a Saturday Night Live appearance by Palin. Affectionately dubbed by Indonesians as the Menteng Kid (due to spending his younger years in the Menteng area in Jakarta), Obama becomes the first African American to be elected chief of the powerful nation. Moreover, the Democratic Party also succeeded in expanding its majority in both houses of the Congress, which will be of great benefit when he starts his job.
Yes HE really can! That's the first thing to strike me after getting the news of his victory. I knew that November 4 (November 5 in Jakarta) is election day, but I don't expect the results to pop out this fast. Despite everything, I have to admit that I still had doubts whether Obama will actually come out as a winner in this election. Something kept whispering to me that things could go wrong and the really old guy would continue Bush's legacy/mess. However, at the end of the day, Obama's win is a loud and firm answer to those doubts as well as to the questions of millions of Americans.
This historic moment is for the whole world to celebrate: papers, internet sites, personal blogs, radio stations, and all kinds of media are going wild with the news; foreign leaders congratulated him with hopes of a better future together; and it's not too much to say that people all over the world is united in extreme joy. Apart from the US itself, the citizens of Kenya -where his father was born- and Indonesia -where he spent four of his elementary school years- are swept in a wave of elation. Jakarta's attention was centered on SDN Menteng 01 where lil' Barry studied; the current students of the school instantly celebrated Obama's victory when the news got there. At last, we got a break from those streaks of bad news.
Well, I originally planned only a very short post, so I'm gonna wrap this up. Here's hoping that the new era brought about by American voters will get the United States back on track, to be the great nation it can be and also usher in a new era of mutual cooperation for every nation in the world. The road that lie ahead will certainly be rough, but this victory is a sign that Obama can lead his nation through that road. Ultimately, I'd like to quote Oz PM Kevin Rudd, "Forty-five years ago Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character...Today what America has done is turn that dream into a reality."
Good luck!
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