The New Nation - Internet Edition

Hasnat Abdul Hye

All fairytales end happily, which is why people of all ages love them. In the Manichean world of fairytale, where good is pitted against evil, the heroic characters prevail at the end. The qualities of their head and heart help them triumph over adversity.

If Barack Obama becomes the next president of America winning the election on 4 November, he will not only make history, he will prove that in the real world also life can have a happy ending. He will become the first Afro-American, though of mixed parentage, to become the President in America, an event most people have thought so long as impossible.

Barack Obama's long journey to the White House began in his childhood when his Kenyan-born father abandoned his white mother and him, in pursuit of a career of higher learning at Harvard University. Instead of being filled with bitterness and hatred, his mind was full of admiration for his father. The ambition that led his father to abandon them redeemed him in his eyes. The greatest legacy that his father left him was to be ambitious in life and he fondly remembers him for that.

To sustain his ambition even in trying circumstances, Obama's mother spared no efforts and pain. The story of her hardworking life has become well-known worldwide through the repeated recounting of Obama at every available opportunity. Next to his mother, Obama's gratitude to his grandmother has known no bounds. She, too, like her daughter sacrificed her personal comfort and welfare to bring up Obama, giving him proper education. As in the case of his mother, Obama is full of praise for his grandmother and attributes most of his achievements to her. It was his grandmother who kept the light of ambition burning in him, he has said on many occasions.

Barack Obama's ambition and talent took him to Harvard University, as if following the foot-steps of his father. His grandmother could not afford to pay the expenses at Harvard but this did not dater Obama. He took a student loan and plunged into studies with singleminded devotion. At Harvard he met his future wife, Michelle, also an Afro-American and studying law. Both graduated in time and with distinction. A comfortable and lucrative career waited for Obama in a law firm. But it did not square with his ambition to do something more meaningful and less mundane.

After marriage, he and his wife moved to South Side in Chicago, an area scarred by poverty and violence among the underprivileged. Obama took up community work in this troubled and neglected place with missionary zeal. It did not bring much of an earning but gave him immense satisfaction. He felt that he was doing something useful, something that could contribute to the welfare of the people abandoned by society. His wife and two daughters stood by his side as he slogged through the daily grind of work with the community.

Barack Obama's love for and commitment to public service led him to politics and he became a senator in the state of Illinoise. For others it would have been perhaps the ultimate destination in fulfilling ambition. But not for Barack Obama, who set his sights higher. Before long he became the youngest Senator in Congress, representing the state of Illinoise. He took keen interest in the work of the Senate, evidence of which can be found in his best-seller "The Audacity of Hope."

When Barack Obama thought of running for the office of the president of United States, it was not only ambition that spurred him on. It was his realization that most of the power to serve the people lay in the office of the president and that a rot had set in there depriving the people of important services that they needed. He felt that change was urgently required and he was competent for that. After a grueling primary, he won the nomiation of the Democratic party, the first Afro-American to have that distinction. He made history.

The trajectory of Barack Obama's political career is nothing short of astonishing. The steady rise of his popularity since he began his presidential campaign is unprecedented. He has been able to reach out to all sections of American society, except perhaps the elite representing vested interests. He has electrified the young and the middleclass with his charisma, eloquence and energy. He has brought a fressness to the campaign that has not been since John Kennedy. In speech after speech in the hustings he has paid tribute to the decent and hard working American people, stressing his dislike for negative campaign. He has promised to bring change in style and substance in Washington if elected president. The opinion polls have shown that majority of American believe him in this.

With one day to go before the polls, it is still a long shot for Obama to be in the White House. The opinion polls don't tell everything. Besides, the margin in the polls has narrowed as the campaign reached the last stretch. There is suspicion in the air that the Republicans may 'steal votes.' There is uncertainty over the way the swing states might finally go. The 7% of independent voters, mostly white, can determine the outcome and Obama cannot be sure that majority of them will vote for him.

Real life is not like what is told in fairytales. Here 'good' does not always win over the 'bad'. John McCain is not evil but he is 'bad' because of the company he has kept so long. McCain cannot bring about the type of change that is needed in America now. Barack Obama can. But will he able to overcome the odds that are still against him? If he can, it will be proved that life can be like in fairytales, with a happy ending.