A most unlikely President

 

The Winner Barack Obama

Barack Obama’s candidacy forced the US to confront the worst of their 9/11 fears and their lingering racism. Barack Hussein Obama was, arguably, the country’s most unlikely candidate for highest office.

He embodied, or at least invoked, much of what America feared. His color recalled its racist past. His name was a reminder of an anxious present. His spiritual mentor displayed a streak of radical Afro-nationalism. He knew domestic terrorists and had lived in predominantly Muslim countries. There was hardly a specter lurking in the American subconscious that he did not call forth.

And that was his great strength. He robbed fear of its ability to work through quiet insinuation. He forced America to confront its own subconscious. Obama actually is black. His middle name actually is “Hussein.” He actually does know William Ayers. He actually was married by Jeremiah Wright. He actually had lived in Indonesia. These were not smears, though they were often used as such. They were facts. And this election was fundamentally about what happened when fear collided with fact.

For the first time, America had to articulate what exactly it feared. Did it truly believe that the middle name “Hussein” suggested a terrorist threat to their country? Well, no. Did it genuinely think Obama a radical Afro-nationalist who had dedicated his life to serving a country he loathed? Probably not. Did it actually seem plausible that Obama wanted to become president so he could finish the job the Weathermen started? Unlikely. The shadowy terrors that animated American politics in the dark aftermath of 9-11 receded. Time had passed. To borrow a line, it was morning in America, and their country looked different in the clean light of the dawn. And so too did its problems. As did Rudd with Howard.

In Washington, residents poured into the streets. Hundreds of people gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, dancing and cheering. George W reportedly lounging in a chair eating cake whilst watching the election unfold on TV.

As the 44th president he is the first African American elected to this position and could well take race out of politics in much the same way as Kennedy took religion out of politics, as the first Catholic to be elected president. Perhaps now the fear mongering that has been dished out to us for so long, will evaporate.

For a run down on who won what, if your interested, click here.