Obama-rama or Baracknaphobia

In no particular order, my observations on the election in the States.

Economics

The US has the right to be hopeful about Obama’s economic sense. As we learned yesterday, he promised his girls a puppy if he won.

That is really sensible considering he could have said ‘pony’ or 'Pennsylvania’.

Social Stability

It used to be said that whenever Mohamed Ali won a fight, crime rates in black ghettos would plummet. The disaffected felt that they had a voice and visibility.

Now, if winning a fist fight against one opponent can do that, becoming the most powerful man in the world should make Los Angeles, Shangri-L.A.

Respeck to Your Fathers, MF

He didn’t get there on his own, though. In an uncharacteristic fit of churlishness, Obama is yet to thank all that have helped pave the way, or as we say in the business, “Softened up the crowd.”

Dennis Haysbert, Sammy Davis Jr, Danny Glover and Morgan Freeman. They have all played black US Presidents (or are playing them).

The Rudd = Dud Effect

You can be as happy as you like tonight America, what with your well mannered, diplomatic, youthful, intelligent, socially progressive leader. We had one of them for a while. What’s that sound? Yup, that’s the sound of soggy rhetoric hitting the floor.

The Speech

I got a little misty when I was listening to the tail-end of his victory speech on the evening of his win. He introduced the final theme that underpins the big idea, thus:

“This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the colour of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.”

He used the refrain: “Yes we can,” as he named the challenges to overcome, and related them to historic events that had occurred during Ann Cooper’s life.

Not to seem like a daft whitey foreigner, but the rhythms and the cadences put me in mind of Martin Luther King, particular with the anticipated return to the chorus. “Yes we can.” The crowd obliged by ‘giving witness’ and chanting back the chorus as he went. There wasn’t the operatic soaring of the voice and tremulous dramatic tones that MLK would hit, but there was something to it that smacked of the delivery style. There wouldn’t have been a dry seat in the house.

The content of the speech was pretty bloody good too, if you adjust for the usual amount of American patriotism. I can only imagine how many times Toby Zeigler’s rubber ball must have bounced off that dividing wall, as Sam Seaborne laboured away at the finer points.