After a two-year long duel between the candidates, the U.S. presidential election has finally come to an end and history has been made with the exercise of democracy by the American voters, one vote at a time. Not surprisingly, Obama struck out his rival by a huge margin and rewrote the U.S. history by becoming the first African-American President-elect.
In fact, even before the counting of the votes, the entire election process had initiated a new chapter in American history. Although he was serving as a first-term senator, Obama already resembled a “political superman,” with his effective rhetoric and charisma. Hundreds of thousands of supporters were energized by the slogan of “Change,” generating an elections hurricane unseen in U.S. history. His astonishing defeat of Hilary Clinton – the former First Lady who had prepared for 10 years to run her presidential campaign – during the battles of the Democratic primaries gave Obama the ticket to march to the White House. Moreover, Obama’s combination of spirit and strategy quickly united the Democratic Party after the clashes between the candidates’ supporters in the primaries.
Despite criticisms and questions about whether his talent for improvisation equals leadership, Obama’s superb organizing strength demonstrated he was nothing short than a miracle maker. More importantly, during the election campaign he broke many records for not only his own party but also in the history of U.S. elections: youths who had long been insensitive to politics dedicated themselves to the campaign and hurried to the voting sites; he brought in an unimaginably large amount of funds for the campaign – so much that he could deliver his message with infomercials in airtime bought from several major networks.
Obama’s campaign broke the record of African-American voter turnout and ignited a passion for politics among Americans, particularly for young voters. His contributions will set a cornerstone in history.
Obama’s rival was also a participant in the making of history. As the oldest presidential candidate ever in U.S. election history, McCain’s patriotism and his service to this country made him an honorable figure. Facing the awful legacy of Bush’s administration, the surging popularity of Obama and the outbreak of financial crisis, McCain demonstrated the fighting spirit of a politician and fired up the election, which in turn drew more voters into the voting booths and eventually broke the record of voter turnout. As well, the selection of the Alaskan governor as his V.P. running mate, despite lampoons from pundits and media directed to Palin’s ignorance in foreign affairs and her unintelligent remarks, she was a breath of fresh air to the political atmosphere long dominated by men. Her impact of drawing more women to pay attention to U.S. politics was similar to Obama’s energizing political awareness in the African-American community.
President Bush is also an indirect participant in this change: Americans demanded that he be changed. His failure and unpopularity were inevitable burdens to McCain’s campaign, even though he was asked to stay under the radar and became an “invisible man” at the request of the Republican Party. The success of transforming a simple rhetoric – “Change” – into an emblematic slogan in this election is a tribute to Obama’s personal charisma as much as an imperative for change caused by the failures of the Bush administration. The Americans’ dream of Washington politics bursts after eight years, McCain became the scapegoat and Obama the spearhead of a movement for “Change.” In this aspect, the influence of Bush’s negative impact contributed to the making of new U.S. history.
America now needs to understand that the mistakes made by the Bush administration cannot be seen solely as the personal misstep of the president; it was the voters who put him twice into the White House. Bush’s military strategies were well received by even his critics in the early stage of his drive for victory. The greed and loose regulations of the financial industry seeded back in the Clinton’s era resulted in today’s economic meltdown. Even the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, concurred with this analysis in his testimony at a hearing before Congress.
America’s mistakes eventually require that Americans vote in amendments, and the U.S. democracy not only makes that possible, but also provides the force that sustains this country.
America is the locomotive of the world. If it makes a wrong turn in history, not only will its people suffer but the whole world will become victim. This is why the eyes of the world are on this presidential election. America has finally taken its first step towards reform and waved goodbye to the Bush’s era. It is encouraging both to America and the rest of the world.
