A President Obama is becoming real

ALL things considered, I make bold to say that if Barack Obama fails to become the president of America in January 2009, it is not because he is not sound, experienced, qualified or fit for the job; it may just be because he is a black American. Obama has changed the cause of history, surprised critics and registered himself as somebody that can no longer be ignored in American political equation for a long time to come. He has risen from the backwaters to give hope not only to black Americans but to blacks all over the world. In the course of the campaigns, in the debates, Obama has shown remarkable improvement and improved capacity that the distance between him and Capitol Hill is becoming closer by the day. I have my reasons.

Blacks in America have come a long way. They rose from the tortuous centuries of slave background to struggle for equality and recognition and today, America, known as Land of Freedom and Liberty is gradually coming to terms with the stark reality that it is no longer going to be business as usual. If America still believes in universal suffrage of equality of man, electing Obama as president will send a clear signal to the world that God's own country can walk the talk, match proclamations with deeds, and move away from rhetoric to reality.

In a public debate recently, General Collin Powel was quick to dismiss an insinuation that suggests that he is likely to support Obama because he is a black man by insisting that first and foremost, he is an American. At this stage and age, Collin Powel is telling Americans that time has come for them to come of age and throw away the primordial and racial sentiments they have lived with for centuries and move on. America cannot continue to live with humanity's oldest problem of discriminating against people who are different from us.

Barack Obama is young (47), strong, sound, fit, dynamic, charismatic and intelligent. Senator John McCain has experience, sound and intelligent too but he is too old to be American president in these times of crisis. If Obama is young and strong, his deputy Senator Joe Biden is a rare gift to the Americans. He is loaded, focused, experienced, knowledgeable, composed and deep. If anything happens to Obama, Biden can adequately fill in the gap but if anything happens to McCain, considering his age, Sarah Palin may not have the capacity to preside over this huge and vast country, called America.

If the state of the economy of the United States is anything to go by, this is an election the Democrats must win outright and in a landslide victory. Former president said he created some 20 million jobs during his 8 years reign and it has been reduced to about 5 million jobs by President George Bush's bad leadership. Today as I write this, a bill for $700 billion US economy bailout is with the Senate and House of Reps in the United States for consideration. America cannot reward the Republicans for leading them into political, economic and social quagmire. This is the time for change and Americans know it.

World opinions have given the mandate to Obama. The world knows that only Americans will decide who will rule them come January 2009 but world opinions cannot be ignored. America may be far away but the world will not go to sleep when an American President is being elected. Whoever becomes the President will automatically assume the position of a world leader and his actions and deeds affect the whole world. It is not a surprise that Obama recorded 200,000 admirers in Berlin, Germany, recently during his campaign tour.

Election of Barack Obama as US President will in no uncertain terms change the world's perception on America. It will change the world's views on America and earn the God's own country many friends. It will promote world peace. What President Bush has been spending billions of dollars, and wasting precious human lives to fight for can be resolved over a conference table by a President Obama because the world will see him as one of their own. Bombs and bullets have their own limitations. US cannot continue to live by virtue of power alone.

Raila Odinga, strong man of Kenyan politics says "Obama's success will inspire us all to break the shackle of ethnic preoccupation in determining political leadership in Africa". A President Obama will unleash an unprecedented growth in America, it will give black Americans a sense of belonging, it will heal old wounds of oppression, suppression and repression, it will cause the blacks to release their energies and potentials for the common cause, it will create a new America and the world stands to gain from it.

No one hand can cover the sun. Nobody is big or strong enough to stop a popular idea whose time has come. I am told that the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn from history. History must be allowed to blaze its path.