Bamalama Gidinggidinggidong ... Obama

It is so easy to really like Obama. One of the most important ingredient in a powerful leader is his oratory skills, his speech making skills and his charisma. You can have the most qualified leader, but if you don't have those traits that I have just mentioned, you can never reach the heights of a great leader. Did Obama join Toastmasters when he was younger?

I listened and listened to his speeches, and was in awed all the time. You can say in your hearts, let me be cynical and question his every word. You would still end up being swayed by him. He is better in speech making than Churchill and JFK put together. He speaks with a deliberateness, and his words come out with digestible dollops of sharp ideas and emotions. The pace of his speech allows us to take it all in. He knows how to build it up, without the shouting freneticism of a evangelical preacher on hot coals. He does not need to shout. His gift is knowing what is dearest in peoples' minds, and he breaks down the defences and the uncertainty in their hearts one layer by one layer.

A brilliant speech maker does not make a brilliant President. If he was without substance, he would not have risen the ranks in his previous leadership posts. He comes across not as a black man but a man of integrity who happened to be black.

He has huge tasks ahead, he was humble in his acceptance speech, he was sobering, he did not whooped it up as a victory. He immediately put people back onto the real issues ahead. Does he have the ability to tackle the financial mess? Does he have the ability to mend foreign relations, the simmering ties with Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Russia in particular? Nobody really knows the answer, but I am willing to take a bet that he can do well. He seems to have a good grasp of the issues, he does not let it get to his head that he might know all the answers. I think he will have the intelligence to appoint the right people to help him solve the right issues to tackle. What we do know is that we have someone who has the right values and integrity that we want to see to go and tackle the looming issues - and that's all we can ask for, really. I would really like to see Colin Powell being appointed to shore up the defense / foreign relations side of things. Yes, even Republicans can be appointed by a Democrat President. The nomination of the Treasury secretary is his first real test as well. I expect him to make waves by attending the G-20 meeting on Nov 15.

In terms of symbolic change in power, it is very enthralling. It is very empowering, not just for African Americans, but for all minorities. For those who are struggling against the system and the racial discrimination throughout the world. Never would I thought that a black man would be appointed as President ahead of a woman. Does that say something about feminism in America? The whole world celebrates alongside with the US in the present days that is so desperate for a shining light. Change, improvement, democracy, liberty and sensibility.

US Presidential Elections - The Rest Of The World Have Voted

The US Presidential elections is followed not just by Americans but much to the surprise of most Americans, the rest of the world as well. I had plenty of discussions during my conference in New York on that topic. It was a great bunch of people more than half of the 24 in my group were Americans and the rest from all over the world. When discussions went to Obama and McCain, I posed a fact to them, whether they knew that the rest of the world have actually voted on the US elections already. They were surprised.

To me, I am very confident that the rest of the world has voted Obama in by a massive landslide. The ROW is always in a predicament, we value the US as the sheriff for the democratic world, we even like American culture and their people, but darn it, we absolutely hate their foreign policies. While I may be making generalisations here, the gist of my arguments stand.

The ROW wants Obama, firstly because he is not Republican. We want a discontinuation of the Bush-Bush-Cheney regime. We want the US to have a new face, a new policy maker to MEND ties all around the world. We need new engagement with countries like North Korea and Russia. We need more fairness in dealing with Israel, not always Israel first, Israel at all cost kind of policy. We need the silly war to end properly and swiftly. We need new faces to engage Iran and Iraq. There are plenty of frayed nerves with respect to dealing with Islamic extremism. We need to engage more neutral Islamic countries to deal with that.

On trade, we need the US to lessen substantially their farm subsidies. We want a US that makes shrinking their deficit a priority. We want a US that takes the lead in emissions and environemntal issues. We want Al Gore to be appointed as lead negotiator in that. We need tough medicine to solve US social security and healthcare. We need a deliberate scaledown in US military budget, do it via more deliberate engagement with "troubling" nations.

Yes, the ROW has already voted in Obama in their hearts and minds. I hope America makes the right choice as well.

p/s photos: Tomoka Kurotani