Waking up
It’s currently 7:43am, and though I have yet to close my eyes and sleep, I can see many signs of the world waking up around me. My house is making noises, the curtains have a light glow around the edge and any small traces of drunkenness have well and truly worn off.
Tonight, or last night if you’d prefer, I stayed up to watch the US general election. I was willing to see it through alone, but stickam made it a far more exciting night. I’ve talked to many close friends over the last seven hours and I sensed in them the same feeling of hope that I have been carrying since I began to get into this race. I remember staying up to watch the vice presidential debates, that was the first time I really started thinking about the issues and about how I felt, and of course about what a catastrophe it would be if Sarah Palin were ever to lead the most powerful nation in the world. Since then I spent a lot of time following the election, more than I ever have a British general election to date, and I found myself agreeing with Obama time and again and was wondering if he was too good to be true. Not only were his policies the most sensible, but he is likable, understanding of a new and different generation, and a truly inspirational speaker.
I’ve had a video playing on my channel today. It’s Obama’s speech in the Virginia rain, possibly my favourite of his, even over tonight’s. I honestly haven’t been so impressed and inspired by a politician in my lifetime. When I saw that speech for the first time, though the content, the context and of course the accent are all different, I was reminded of Winston Churchill. Now lets face it, when it comes to speech making there is no higher accolade.
The fear that it was too good to be true, though continually diminishing, didn’t disappear until the Californian result came through and Barack Obama was officially the next president of the US. After all, this is a country that decided after four years of George Bush, to have another four.
Of course, all of this has been just to get to the starting blocks. Come January we will begin to see if Obama can be the president we all hope he can. I at least believe he can.
It’s 8:05am now, and though I am done for the night, the world is definitely waking up.
George said,
November 5, 2008 at 8:45 am
You’re right, his speeches are truly inspirational; we were studying them in English yesterday, and as a result I’ve been browsing youtube in awe of his rhetoric. It’ll make a bit of a difference having someone that can actually address a nation effectively… you would hope, anyway.
OBAMA 08!
Why do I feel so excited?:P
Dale said,
November 5, 2008 at 10:47 am
I fell asleep woke up 7ish and saw you were still in my stickam. Although was so sleepy i just turned off the laptop. XD
OBAMA WOOO!
minish said,
November 5, 2008 at 2:05 pm
As excited as I was to see him get into office, I am even more excited to watch him lead us.
barryaldridge83 said,
November 5, 2008 at 2:53 pm
This was a great day Dave. Im glad he is in power and cant wait to see what he does from January 20th. I hope Obama can deliver.
minna said,
November 5, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I’m glad you’re somewhat interested in what’s going on in the world right now.
I was sure there was no hope when it comes to this selection, because I was in the US couple weeks ago and I couldn’t help noticing that it’s a very conservative country. I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if they had selected McCain rather than Obama.
The only thing I don’t like in Obama is that he supports death sentence. Or nobody really “supports” it, so… he doesn’t judge death sentence. It may be slightly naïve to think killing is never a fair final decision, but supporting death sentence is just disgusting.
I’m sure I made some awkward grammatical tense mistakes, hopefully this is understandable…
Brilliant Demise said,
November 6, 2008 at 1:15 am
As if we didn’t love you enough, you had to write this. ^^
Dave=TheBest
Natalie said,
November 7, 2008 at 4:53 am
Hi Dave
I couldn’t agree with you more, I am in Australia and luckily had the day off work so watched the whole series of events pan out. Usually I am in no way interested in politics especially American politics, but after watching the previous debates I found myself in awe of Barak Obama and instead of tuning out I tuned in moreso than ever before.
America needs change and I think electing Obama is the best first step they can take.
Carol J. Richardson said,
November 13, 2008 at 12:38 am
Obama surely has the world’s attention. I am keeping fingers crossed that
he can make a difference. We sure need it. I am impressed by his ideas
and thank God, Palin didn’t get elected. Give that woman a talk show or perhaps
a fashion show. For God sake, what were people thinking that voted for her. I
had never heard of her before McCain chose her as running mate and I keep
up with current events. If she ever gets elected, I’m moving to Canada or somewhere and I’m sure I’ll be in a long line. There are still those of us that have common sense in this country.