WASHINGTON -- The election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States is unquestionably the best example America can offer to the rest of the world that democracy, despite its many imperfections, actually works.
This election, more than any other, will be remembered for making history on many levels; just 53 years after Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a public bus, Americans elected an African American to the White House, and the highest office in the land.
This election should also send a clear message to the rest of the world that the United States is serious about democratic reforms, and as we know, change starts at home. As pollster John Zogby wrote in an editorial earlier this week, "Change is coming."
Fed up with eight years of failing policies of the George W. Bush administration, American voters opted for change and for Barack Obama.
Indeed, Obama's victory over the Republican candidate John McCain did not come easily. It took a 22-month relentless, hard fought campaign to reach the point where we are today. Much has changed in those 22 months. Back then, it seemed as though Senator Hillary Clinton of New York would grab the Democratic Party's nomination, Obama was trailing behind the former first lady and no one had yet heard of Sarah Palin, even Republicans.
But Obama's victory should act as a wake-up call, as a catalyst for "regime change." This election should encourage the spread of democracy around the world far more so than the menace of any military threat. This election should also be the living proof to all those who during the past eight years have had their doubts about American justice and American democracy that the system actually works. Those doubts should now be put aside. Obama's victory is the proof that the system works. At the end of the day or rather at the end of four, or in this case eight years the power ultimately rests in the hands of the people.
Concerned by the economic crisis plaguing the country, rising unemployment and the dismal state in which the Bush administration has taken the country in the last eight years the American electorate today had their say.
There was jubilation among Obama's supporters across the United States as results showing the Democratic candidate leading in state after state. In what was to be a precursor to the rest of the election, the first results coming from the tiny town of Dixville Notch, NH, gave the advantage to Senator Obama with 15 votes to McCain's six.
And judging from reaction from the rest of the world to the news of Obama's victory, this is not just a victory for the American people but a victory for the entire world. This election, more than any other, has captivated the attention of the whole planet, understandably, given that the actions, decisions and policies of the world's sole remaining superpower directly affects the lives of millions of people.
The election of Obama should send a clear message to the rest of the world that there is no other alternative to a free and democratic system. It should send a message to the countries who mock the very concept of democracy by staging controlled elections. Elections where goon squads armed with guns and intimidation help manage incredible returns typically in the neighborhood of around 99 percent.
Today, change has come to America. It must also come to the parts of the world that remain restrained. But as in the past, America must lead by example, not by force. Today America led by example.
(11/5/2008)
- By CLAUDE SALHANI , Middle East Times, Egypt
