Change and Hope

Sketches of American Presidents, via Accordion Guy

Congratulations to our American friends on the election of President Barrack Obama. On the TV, Reverend Jesse Jackson is in the crowd in Chicago, tears rolling down his cheeks, this man who stood with Dr Martin Luther King witnessing a moment when a nation lives a dream. America is a nation that gave us The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash and James Brown. Tonight, I saw a glimpse of THAT America.

I saw the pronouncement at 11pm on the BBC, and then caught The Daily Show pronounce. Jon Stewart looked choked up saying those words "Barrack Obama is President of the United States". A flash-mob gathered outside the White House, spurned by a text messaging wave at a nearby university.

I was impressed by John McCain's concession speech, where he spoke from his heart, geniunely, and urging that fractured nation to pull together. I wish we were seeing more of McCain in the future and less of Palin, but I suspect it shall be reveresed.

I stayed up to watch President Elect Barrack Obama's speech. He spoke of gratitude, of the immensity of this moment, and of the challenges that America faces. He's inheriting a role that finds so many things broken, "the climb will be steep". I'm Canadian, and I know that a great deal of what America does affects the world I live in. Barrack Obama isn't my president, he doesn't lead my country, but he has me believing, "Yes We Can." Change and hope it is then.