The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

As the prolonged campaign drew to a close on Saturday with Hillary Rodham Clinton withdrawing from the race and endorsing the nomination of Barack Obama, new annals have been added to the history of the United States - an African American can become president of the world's most powerful nation and that women are equally acceptable for the post.

The campaign for the nomination was close and although Barack Obama had been in the leading position for some time, it was impossible to draw a clear conclusion till last Tuesday when more than 2118 super delegates declared to be on Obama's side. Never before a black man was nominated to contest for president of the US and a woman came so close to nomination.

Many explanations are now being given to the success of Obama in the nomination race and Hillary's nail-biting finish, but judged from what they have achieved it can be asserted without hesitation that both won in their own ways. They won as the workers of the Democratic Party wanted them to win because they want change which both promised.

US news agencies termed the two candidates as representing cultural and political milestones in US history. Hillary Rodham Clinton was quoted as saying Saturday in her farewell address, "Children today will grow up taking for granted that an African-American or a woman can, yes, become the president of the United States."

President George W Bush praised the symbolism of the 2008 field. "I thought it was a really good statement, powerful moment when a major political party nominates an African-American man to be their standard bearer," he said in an interview Friday with an Italian journalist. "And it's good for our democracy that that happened. And we also had a major contender being a woman. Obviously Hillary Clinton was a major contender. So, I think it's a good sign for American democracy."

Snap polls are now shedding lights on the factors leading to the nomination of Barack Obama. Social researches on the same would continue for years. But by all counts the nomination reflects the greatness of the American people who appears to have overcome, even if not yet completely, gender and racial divides.

Son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, Obama was raised literally and metaphorically offshore, in Indonesia by his white mother and in Hawaii by his white grandparents. A majority of Americans said the country was ready for a black president, but that was yet to be put to test.

However, Obama's achievement is that much of what it represents is not about the colour of his skin. Obama, 46, has run a race that, at least when possible, has been deliberately not about race. He steered clear of a campaign like Jesse Jackson's, which shaped itself as a fight for the rights of minorities and the poor.

Instead, he promised an era of change, an idea that found broad support among different groups of voters. He excluded many of the civil rights leaders and others - from Jackson to Al Sharpton - who would have defined him as a black candidate. He spoke about himself not primarily as a black man, but as a man whose story was uniquely American.

People in the rest of the world would now keenly observe if the urge of the American people for change also benefits them, because US is virtually the lone global player in the present unipolar world, which can and does influence their destiny. The wars of hatred and revenge, lack of concern for the laws, norms and principles on which international relations flourished in the post -World War-II period, have created uncertainties that were not experienced in the last six decades. They should give way to a world which is peaceful and congenial for upholding human dignity and promoting progress in all corners of the globe.