So, the battle is over and the best man has won. The Democrats are set to get another crack at government in January - and their man will be playing to a home-crowd in Congress. This clear-cut victory for Obama gives him considerable currency in terms of popular support and buys him a bit of time to find his feet and get things done. With America in crisis it is important that he gets things right - people don't want instant change or even very fast change. They want lasting change for the better, and they are willing to allow him the time to effect this.
As Obama intelligently assembles his government-in-waiting, the world will hold its collective breath in the hope that Dubya doesn't crown his incumbency by starting another war or doing something monumentally stupid with his remaining months at the helm. Bush has for a long time been playing exclusively to his supporters so he cares not a jot what the wider America thinks of him. As his approval ratings are lower than Nixon's at the time of the Watergate revelations it seems unlikely that he will find a way to fix his legacy. When we think of him we will think of the crises he has created in the world and the catastrophic mess he leaves behind.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the Bush years was the racist undertones which peeped-out from beneath his awful governance. Do you think what he did in Iraq would have been so widely supported (at the beginning anyway) if the tens of thousands of dead children were white-skinned, blonde-haired and blue-eyed? The implicit notion that non-white civilians are of lesser importance than their caucasian counterparts is sickening and very much a feature of Bush's foreign-policy. The fact that many of the US servicemen who died were also dark-skinned probably doesn't cost "W" much sleep either - they are drawn from America's poor. The poor have always gone to war on behalf of the wealthy.Another amazing revelation of the Bush incumbency is how utterly unprofessional and useless the US military is. Although they have been in-country for several years and benefit from the mightiest military machine in history they have been defeated by civilian "insurgents." And don't be fooled by this nonsense of "foreign combatants" and "terrorists" in Iraq - oh, they are there all right, because the inept occupying force failed to contain Iraq's borders. But it is very much the case that a large proportion of anti-American attacks are launched by those who have lost family and friends due to America's savage pre-invasion bombing campaign and the senseless widespread slaughter of civilians which continues under American occupation.
And into this mess marches poor Obama. He seems like a decent man, a man of faith, courage and conviction - he will need all three if he is to re-assemble the broken vase of US international relations.
Ironically we have Sarah Palin to thank for Obama's clear-cut victory. The GOP's folly of believing that disgruntled female Dems would vote for any female candidate has been revealed in all its glory. And poor old Hillary's efforts to secure McCain the Presidency have come to naught. Between them, these two women have schemed, screeched and mud-slung Obama right into the oval office. No doubt Palin will be looking to 2012 and the prospect of a ticket in her own name. The question facing the Republicans then would be: who could be her running mate? It would need to be a political heavyweight, but someone who would not make her appear dumb. Now, there's a tall order.
