The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

The Barack Obama victory in the US presidential election sent people around the world to cheers because of the "change we need" he promised. And Obama echoed the sentiment of the humanity when he in his victory speech made mention of the perils of two wars, an earth threatened and the global economic crisis that he has vowed to face.

This world appeal of Obama gives the most powerful nation on Earth an opportunity to regain moral leadership of the globe by ending the vicious cycle of hate, mistrust and the use of force rather than reason that reduced the world order to a domain where might was right during the last eight years.

The most important thing that made possible the creation of a setting for a new beginning for not only America but also the world has been the greatness of the US electorate which chose to make the first African-American their President because he promised the most longed for 'change.'

As predicted by many, the Obama victory sent to tears many including Jesse Jackson who had made a failed attempt at the US presidency not in a very distant past. It is a silent revolution in the American society which has thrown its weight behind the right cause that Obama promised. The issue at stake was important and also the man who proved forceful enought to carry it forward. The African Americans have every reason to feel extremely happy at Obama's win, but since they comprise only about one-eight of the American electorate the victory was possible because of overwhelming support of the majority white voters.

One of Britain’s influential black figures Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, earlier did suggest that guilt over transatlantic slavery was behind Mr Obama’s support from middle class whites. However, Trevor Phillips was also quoted as saying that "A vote for Obama is a pain-free negation of their own racism.”

The November 4 voting proved that the Americans have risen well above that. Time magazine’s John Klein has written, 'But this election was about much more than issues. It was the ratification of an essential change in the nature of the country.’

John Klein writes, “Obama's victory creates the prospect of a new "real" America. We can't possibly know its contours yet, although I suspect the headline is that it is no longer homogeneous. It is no longer a "white" country, even though whites remain the majority. It is a place where the primacy of racial identity - and this includes the old, Jesse Jackson version of black racial identity - has been replaced by the celebration of pluralism, of cross-racial synergy.”

“After eight years of misgovernance, it has lost some of its global swagger t but also some of its arrogance. It may no longer be as dominant, economically or diplomatically, as it once was. But it is younger, more optimistic, less cynical. It is a country that retains its ability to startle the world - and in a good way, with our freedom. It is a place, finally, where the content of our President's character is more important than the colour of his skin”, John Klein adds.

The world now eagerly awaits the transition of power in the White House and translation of 'the content’ of character of the US President-elect into real actions to bring back sanity to his country as well as the rest of the world.