My 'local' column - about Barack

What's the point of having a newspaper if you can't exploit it?? I do a weekly column about local issues so today I wrotre about...Barack Obama. I mentioned a couple of places in Bath to try and justfiy it but what the hell!

When America became colour blind...by Sam Holliday


As I write this during Wednesday lunchtime, I must confess to feeling more than a little tired and weary.
It is not the feeling of fatigue that comes from working too hard but the sense of the hours catching up with you after a very long night. And the reason for that epic Tuesday evening is the reason why probably millions of other Brits had a woeful Wednesday too – because I stopped up to watch history in the making across the Atlantic.
We use the words ‘historical event’ far too glibly in my opinion to record sometimes the smallest new occurrence. But Tuesday truly provided a seismic moment which in its own way was as relevant to Bath as it was to Baltimore and as crucial to life in Wiltshire as it is to life in Wisconsin.
The reality is that because they are our biggest and most important allies, the election of a president in America is almost as important to our day-to-day lives as that of the selection of a Prime Minister. If you think that is exaggerating, ask yourself whether we would now be in Iraq and Afghanistan if it weren’t for our ‘special relationship’ and remember also that it was people defaulting on their home loans in far away Washington that means we are now having cash and mortgage problems in Widcombe and Whiteway.
But, of course, this wasn’t any old American election.
In the past we have seen battles with people who quickly disappeared off the map – how well do you remember Michael Dukakis or Bob Dole, for example? But something tells me the world will never forget the 2008 Barack Obama versus John McCain battle.
Now it is over and the somewhat unspoken issues can be talked about. Let’s be honest and admit that the thing that made this particular election so fascinating was that whatever the result, we would end up in unchartered territory. The result would give us either a black/mixed race president or a female vice- president.
Regardless of the individuals involved or their policies, this represents a fantastic progression for America and blows away the theory that only white, middle-age men need ‘apply’ for the top jobs.
For Barack Obama to have ended up victorious is a truly astonishing event and one which was fully deserved. He was the best candidate, he fought the best campaign, he had the best vice-president and, as Americans of every colour and background have agreed, he also had the best policies. The fact that he is also as black man of mixed race descendants shouldn’t matter – but of course it does.
This is a country that based much of its early wealth on slavery and even fought a civil war about the issue. Even more recently – within Barack Obama’s lifetime – it was a country which had its own form of apartheid in many southern states and where the Ku Klux Klan were a terrifying force of evil in every-day life. Could any of those bigots of just a generation ago imagine that a black family would now be walking into the White House having received votes from every sector of the population?
It means that for maybe the first time in its history America today looks like a colour-blind nation.
You may feel this is all thousands of miles away and not that relevant to your life but the feeling of hope knows no geographical barriers and that is what I detect this election has created. This isn’t about politics or Left and Right, it’s about that rare, possibly once-in-a-generation feeling that you are witnessing something or someone very special.
Barack Obama is my generation’s John F Kennedy or Winston Churchill – a man who is perfect for the time and who instils a sense of belief and positivity that few politicians can ever match.
In many ways this is a presidency that looks quite daunting owing to the current world situation, and for Barack Obama it all starts now. But what would encourage him is that in many ways he has already scaled what just a few years ago may have seemed to be unreachable heights and armed with that confidence, you suspect that anything is possible.
God bless America? You bet...